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COFYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




LIFE'S DELIGHTFUL DAY 



EVERY LIFE A 
DELIGHT 



BY 

JAMES HENRY POTTS 



I 



THE ABINGDON PRESS 

;Nefa Hark Cmctmtait 






COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY 
JAMES HENRY POTTS 






AUG (2 1914 



CLA376958 



PRELUDE 



EVERY life ought to be a delight whether it is 
or not. 

It should be a delight in itself and a de- 
light to every other life. 

Man was designed to have a happy time upon 
this beautiful earth, and if he doesn't have it, the 
fault is his own. 

"There is nothing better for a man," says the 
highest authority, "than that he should eat and 
drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy 
good in his labor." 

What is the use of laboring if a man is not to 
enjoy good from it ? 

Carlyle suggests that it is not "to taste sweet 
things, but to do noble and true things, that the 
poorest son of Adam dimly belongs. Show him 
the way of doing that, and the dullest daydrudge 
kindles into a hero." 

That is the point exactly. Man is to labor that 
he may rightfully eat and drink, and thus "make 
his soul enjoy good," or in other words, "do noble 
and true things." 

As a help in this direction the following pages 
have been made up by a "DAYDRUDGE." 



CONTENTS 



Part first 

LIFE IN FULL ZEST 

PAGE 

The Glow of Life, -------- 21 

Delightful Ideas, -------- 22 

The World Is Ours, -------- 23 

Earnestness, --------- 24 

Mighty Actors, - - - - - - - - - 27 

Swift Thinking, - 28 

A Tip-Top Life, - -------- 31 

A Secret of Success, - - - - - - 32 

Nerve, ----------- 33 

Ownership, ---------- 34 

The Grasping Man, --------37 

Efficiency, - 38 

The Millionaire, - - - -- - - -39 

Rich Without Money, ------- 40 

The Spendthrift, -------- 41 

Our Sacred Rights, -------- 42 

The Golden Rule, -------- 44 

Rights Not Identical, ------- 45 

Just Work, ---------- 50 

The Fitness of Things, ------- 50 

Live and Learn, ---------- 54 

Basic Laws, --------- 54 

An Elixir, - - - - - - - • - - - 57 

Honor, ---------- 58 

Principle, ---------- 61 

Womanliness, --------- 62 

The Bargain with Self, ------- 65 

The Craving for News, ------- 66 

As You Take Them, -------- 69 

7 



Contents 



part Second 

LIFE'S MORNING GLEE 

PAGE 

Sweet Innocence, --_-____ 75 

The Pleased Child, -----.--. 76 

Delightful Little Traits, - - - - - - 77 

Self-help Hints, -------- 78 

Fun Alive, - - - - - - - • - - -79 

Laugh and Live Long, ------- 80 

Being Satisfied, - - - - - - - - 81 

Great Little Hearts, ------- 83 

Trust, - ----------84 

Kindness, - - - - - - - - • ■ - 87 

The Charming Flowers, - -."-"- - - - 88 

Boys and Toys, -_-_-___ 92 

Holiday of the Heart, ------- 94 

Old Santa, __._ 95 

Catching Santa, ---------96 

Sunshine at the Door, ------- 97 

Presence of Mind, - - - - - - - - 98 

Words that Win, - ' - - - - - - '. - 99 

Words that Repel, - 100 

Good Resolutions, - - - - - - - - 101 

A Rich Repast, --------- 103 

Nature's Beauties, -------- 104 

A Twofold Joy, - - - - - - - - - 108 

The Tickled Boy, -------- 109 

Companionship of Books, - - - - - - - 110 

A Boy's Liberty, -------- 112 

Dat Watermillion, - - - - - - - - 113 

Life's True Wine, -------- 114 

Part Tbtrd 

HAPPY INSPIRATIONS 

Happiness, - - 119 

Secrets of Happiness, ------- 120 

8 



Contents 



PAGE 

Home, Sweet Home, -------- 121 

The Old Well, _____._■■__ 125 

The Happiest Thought, - - - - - - - 126 

Delight at Home, -------- 128 

Beauty in Song, - - - - - ' - - - - 131 

Devotedness, --------- 132 

Solid Comfort, - - - - - - - - - 135 

Thoughtfulness, -------- 136 

Recreations in Science, - - - - - - - 139 

At Peace, - ' - - - - - - - - 14-1 

Diffidence, --------- 145 

A Modest Spirit, - - - - - - - - - 148 

Serenity, ---------- 151 

Domesticity, --------- 152 

Sincerity, - - - - - - - ' - - - 155 

Genuineness, --------- 156 

Contentment, - - - - - - - - - 158 

Of Diamond Value, -------- 161 

Cheerfulness, - - - - - - -- . 165 

The Sunny Side, -------- 166 

Sunshine in Practice, -------- 169 

Mind Food, - - - - - - - - 170 

World-Wide Wisdom, - - - - - - - - 172 

Part fourth 

THE TENDER AFFECTIONS 

Love, - - - - - - - - - .' - - 177 

The Beauty of Love, - - - - - - - - 178 

All and Always, -------- 181 

Love's Richest Outlay, - - - - - - - 182 

Love and Longing, - - - - - - ' - - 185 

A Woman's Heart, - - 186 

Her Answer, --------- 187 

A Tender Heart, -------- 188 

The Love of Sisters, -.--___ 192 

Ugliness of Hatred, --_.__. 193 

9 



Contents 



PAGE 

Queen of the World, - - 194 

Father and Daughter, ---:..- 198 

Rosa Lovaire, - - - - - - - - 202 

Making Friends, - - - -..•■- - - - 203 

Pure Friendship, --•-..- 204 

Accidental Friendships, - - 207 

Friendly Greetings, - 207 

A Friendly Token, -------- 209 

The Kiss, - - -210 

Cupid, ------- 1 .. 214 

Glancing Back, - -------- 216 

The Moored Bark, 216 

An Angel's Delight, - - 218 

Part fifth 

PLEADINGS OF THE HEART 

Thy Heart and Mine, 223 

Heartlessness, -.--_-_. 224 

The Mighty Plea, - - - - - - - - 225 

Heart Treasures, -------- 226 

My Claim ---------- 229 

Faith, ------ 230 

Hope, - - - - - - 233 

Charity, - - - - - - - - - - 234 

Conscience, - - - - - - - -..-'- 235 

The Supreme Struggle, - - -. - - - - 236 

Enoch Gladson, ._.-__.. 237 

Wrestling Jacob, 238 

A Complete Life, -------- 240 

A Manly Man, - - - 244 

Truth, - - - - 245 

Deborah Trueheart, -------- 246 

Experience, --------- 247 

Friend or Foe, Which, ------- 248 

A New Heart, --------- 250 

10 



Contents 



PAGE 

Search for the Abiding, - - - - - - 251 

Angel of the Earth, - - - - - - - - 252 

Path Among the Stars, ------- 255 

Light at Evening, -------- 256 

The Life Immortal, - 259 

The World not Seen, ------- 260 

The Coming Creed, -------- 262 

The Last Hour, --------- 262 

The First Hour Beyond, - - - - - - 264 



Part Sixth 

THE DEPRESSING FACTORS 

Afflictions, -----..__ 269 

The Joy of Tears, -------- 270 

Silence and Darkness, - - - - - - -272 

Helen Adams Keller, - 274 

Marred, Yet Undaunted, ------- 275 

Disappointments, - - - 277 

Mistakes, ---------- 278 

Losses, -- 279 

Loneliness, 281 

The Titanic's Doom, --.-_.. 282 

The Titanic, -----___. 283 

Regret, - 284 

Long Joy, Short Sorrow, ------- 287 

A Promoter of Heartaches, ------ 288 

Rough Specimens, - - - - - - - . . 288 

Better, ---------- 290 

Wicked for Pay, - 290 

Good in All of Us, - - - - - T - _ 291 

Beware, - - - - - - - . . . 292 

The Upward Climb, - - - - - - - _ 295 

Superstition, _. 297 

A Cannonade, -------_'_ 302 

11 



Contents 



part Seventh 

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS 

PAGE 

My Story, - - - - 307 

How I Grew Rich, -------- 314 

An Unusual Request, - - - - - - - - 316 

Mistaken for a Burglar, - - - - - - 316 

Editorial Fun, - - - - - - - - - 318 

My Visitor, --------- 319 

My Cottage by the Bay, - - - - ■ - - 320 

"Enclosed Find," -------- 323 

Tug Upon the Line, -------- 324 

My Favorite, - - - - - - - - 325 

Two Dear Girls, - - - - - - - - 327 

My Sweetheart, - - - -- - - - 329 

My Child's Child, -------- 330 

Days of Yore, --------- 331 

Two Little Graves, - - - - - - - - 333 

The Passing Years, - 334 



12 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

^» ^ 

PAGE 

Life's Delightful Day, ___._. Frontispiece 

How Fine it is to Live, ------- 17 

All in Earnest, - 25 

Jonathan Swift, -------- 29 

His First Profit, -- - - - - - -35 

David Livingstone, -------- .40 

Young America, ---------47 

The Soul of Honor, ------- 59 

Classic Womanhood, - -.- - - - - -63 

Something New, -------- 67 

Happy-Thought Auto, - - - - - -. - 71 

Innocent and Sweet, - 75 

That Bright Smile, -------- 76 

Strawstack Toboggan, ------- 79 

Happy Brothers, ---------80 

A Rich Crop, - - - - 83 

Innocence and Prowess, - 85 

Wild Roses, --- 89 

An Absorbing Pastime, -------93 

Full-armed for Christmas, - 94 

"Merry Christmas," -- -95 

Catching Santa Claus, ------- 96 

June Roses, - - 97 

A Polite Hostess, --- 103 

Dressed in Beauty, - - - - - - - - 105 

Expectation — Realization, ------ 108 

The Laugh is in Him, - 109 

The Library Corner, - - -Ill 

Reading by Firelight, - - 112 

Would n't Steal, - 113 

Day Dreaming, - - - - - - - - 115 

13 



Illustrations 



PAGE 

None Happier, - - - - - - - - - 119 

Old Home on the Hill, ------- 123 

The Old Well, --------- 125 

Dear Old Songs, - - - - - - - - 129 

Devotion's Mirror, 133 

In Thoughtful Mood, - - - - - - - 137 

Love of Progress, - - - - - - - - 141 

Peace, - - - 144 

The Torn Gloves, ---..___ 146 

Joseph Addison, - - - 149 

First "First Lady," - - - - - - - 153 

Pure Gold, --------- 157 

Contented, - - - - - 159 

A Polished Diamond, ---._-_ 153 

Sunshine, - - - - - - - - - - 167 

Tallyrand, - - - - - - - - - 171 

Heart Communion, - - - - - - - - 173 

Story at a Distance, --.-.._ 179 

Near Love's Altar, -------- 183 

Julia Ward Howe, -------- 189 

Sisters, - - 192 

One of the Queens, ---.___ 195 

Watching for Father, ----.._ 199 

Undefiled, --------- 202 

Faithful and True, - - - - - - - - 205 

"How d' Ye Do?" -------- 208 

A Wordless. Message, ------- 209 

A Delightful Salute, - - - - - - - 211 

Cupid's Toy, --------- 214 

Raptures Taking Wing, - - - - - - - 216 

Delightful Memories, - - - - - - -217 

Awake to Higher Delights, - - - - - - 219 

Beauty Heart Deep, - - - - - - - -227 

Faith, Hope, and Charity, - - - - - - 231 

"Till Morn They Struggled," ------ 238 

A Shining Light, -------- 241 

14 



Illustrations 



PAGE 

"She Practiced," -------- 246 

Spirit of the Skies, -------- 253 

Sunset, ---------- 257 

The Inexorable Reaper, ------- 263 

Helen Keller, -------- 265 

Oliver Goldsmith, - - - - - - - -275 

Riches take Wings, - - - - - - - 279 

The Titanic. --------- 282 

Loved and Lost, -------- 285 

The Wolfish Sort, -------- 293 

The Faithful Ones, ------- 293 

Wishing You Delight, __--_-_ 303 

Fallen in Love, -------- 308 

Spinning Flax, - - -- - - - - -311 

Where Surges Roll, - - - - - - - 312 

The Pebbly Beach, -------- 320 

Beautiful Bay View, - - - - - - - 321 

The Game is Up, - - - - - - - - - 324 

"Like Herself," -------- 326 

The Golden Hair, - - - - - - - - 327 

In Curls So Fair, - - - - - - - - 327 

Sweetness of Her Heart, ------- 329 

Margaret, --------- 330 

I Hold Him Dear, -------- 331 



15 




HOW FINE IT IS TO LIVE. 



PART FIRST 
LIFE IN FULL ZEST 



The greatest thing beneath the sun, 
When everything is said and done, 
Is man himself, his hopes and fears, 
His love, his longings, griefs and tears, 
His inspirations, wishes, needs, 
His courage, faith, and mighty deeds — 
That man is most, has most achieved, 
Who most his fellows has relieved. 



Life in Full Zest 



THE GLOW OF LIFE 

How fine it is to live ! 

To wake each morn and say, 
"Now thanks to God I give 

For this auspicious day!" 

How fine to rise in health, 
Immune from ache and pain! 

Preserved as if by stealth, 
Renewed delight to gain! 

How fine to hail the Spring, 

As Winter disappears! 
How dear each feathered wing ! 

How warmth returning cheers! 

How zestful all things seem! 

How new the commonplace! 
How bright the sunshine's gleam! 

How sweet the smiling face! 

How friendly are the trees! 

The rocks to rest invite. 
How soft the gentle breeze! 

How glorious the light! 

How fine it is to live! 

To close each blessed day, 
Most fervent thanks to give, 

And wish to live alway! 



21 



Every Life A Delight 



DELIGHTFUL IDEAS 

Individual betterment is worth struggling for, but the good 
of all is a more delightful aim. 

The surest way to miss happiness is to seek it. The surest 
way to find it is to bestow it. 

If satisfied with what you are, you will never advance. 
Improvement comes from aspiration. 

To preserve the good things that are, and foster the better 
things that can be, is a motive worth while. 

The overcoming of selfishness is a long step toward ideality. 
A complete life is never anchored to the ego. 

No man can solve the riddle of the universe, but every man 
can help to make the riddle better worth solving. 

Make each to-morrow better than to-day and your life will 
excel in brilliancy that of any reformer or prince. 

When indulgence is governed by moderation rather than 
excess, the richest sweetness is being drawn from life. 

If you wish for clearer, purer thought, forget what you ought 
not to remember, and remember what you ought not to forget. 

Supplant the roots of bitterness and strife, plant the seeds 
of love and harmony, and you are a farmer after God's own 
heart. 

If you hope to benefit your fellows, be charitable and friendly. 
Generosity and good fellowship will delight almost any social 
circle. 



22 



Life in Full Zest 



THE WORLD IS OURS 

Hail, fellow-man! Great joy to thee! 

The world is ours now; 
We own the land ; we hold the sea ; 

Our hands are at the plow. 

Our hearts are in the mighty swim; 

Our minds the problems grasp; 
We launch the schemes ; we share the vim, 

And rich rewards we clasp. 

Our fathers lived their little day, 
Then passed their claims along; 

The goods are ours while we stay — 
Let each his stay prolong. 

Lift up thy voice! Strike up a tune! 

Join in a meny note! 
Make all the year a flowery June! 

Set summer songs afloat! 

Look up! The Sun his brilliant rays 

Is pouring in thy path! 
What bracing air; what favored days 

This generation hath! 

The earth her riches vast lays bare; 

Man's skill hath revel high; 
We win success; each chance is rare; 

We rush, we sail, we fly! 

The world is booming! We are it! 

Thyself an urgent part! 
Catch on! Plunge in! A fighting fit 

May nerve and soothe thy heart. 
23 



Every Life A Delight 



Be not a cipher! Never shrink 
From sipping richest cream ! 

Men may be greater than they think 
And brighter than they dream. 

Concede to none superior aim, 
Or motive more unstained! 

In chosen sphere and task be game 
Till thou life's goal hast gained. 



EARNESTNESS 

I like the earnest man, strong of soul, clear of brain, firm of 
will, quick in action, and bound to work and win. 

I like the man who sees his chance, and knows it when he 
sees; the man missioned to move, a motor with a heart, sur- 
charged with pluck and power and thrill. 

I like the man who stays afield, unwearied though in strife, a 
stranger to fear, a mighty faith force, yet held by prudence within 
correct bounds; a being wise, intent on deeds, and keen. 

I like the man who knows his time, who keeps abreast his 
age, always alert, making his youth count twelve, and found far 
up the height ere yet his climbing power wanes. 

I like the man oft energized and stirred by visions of an 
end, who knows the earth, is not for age to keep, who lives to 
live for all he's worth, nor dies before his time, nor wishes 
time to end nor life to close; a man of sane, far-visioned, serious, 
eager spirit, just as sincere as he is ardent, and just as urgent 
as he is by purpose fixed. 

Bulwer was right: "Earnestness is the best gift of mental- 
power, and deficiency of heart is the cause of many men never 
becoming great." 



24 




ALL IN EARNEST 



Life in Full Zest 



MIGHTY ACTORS 

The strenuous life was lived before it was named. High- 
pressure characterizes all American activity. We work, we play, 
we think, we travel, we rest, and even worship at a tremendous 
rate of speed. We do not know how to go slow. 

If accused of living too fast, we acknowledge the fact and 
then go on living faster. Everybody acts as if life depends on 
the action, whether it be to fill a hurry-up business order or to 
go on a vacation. 

The truth is that we love activity and hard work. We want 
to be occupied and make it pay. When it pays well, we are 
restless until it pays better. Nothing satisfies us, not even 
satisfaction itself. We create new demands as fast as we meet 
them. It is a strenuous age. 

Old-time gentlemen and ladies doted on the delights of 
leisure. Americans sing, ''Blessed be work!" They are hap- 
piest who put most zest into life and sweat and fret under all 
sorts of obligations. To be beautifully idle is to know the 
quintessence of ennui and despondency. 

In factory and field, office and store, shop and station, all 
pulses throb with anticipation, all nerves tingle at high tension, 
all brains turn and twist at high pressure, and all muscles move 
as rapidly as authority or sense of duty can compel them. We 
are a busy lot, men, women, and children, in this broad and 
marvelously complex arena of human life. 

If it be said that money, not moral tone, is our spurring 
motive, we shall have to acknowledge the soft impeachment, 
or much of it", and then pitch in and make more money, leaving 
morals to be worked out when we get rich, or die. We are 
bound to be thoroughly used up before we die, and most of us 
want to live about ten lives before we are used up. If any man 
puts his whole force, the mass of his character, mind, heart, and 
soul into what he sa^s and does, that man is the average Amer- 
ican. 

27 



Every Life A Delight 



SWIFT THINKING 

How fast can a man think? It depends upon the man. 

One of the swiftest thinkers that ever lived was Jonathan 
Swift, of London. 

Swift's brain was a live wire in every coil and twist, and 
thoughts flew from it in bunches like pellets fired from a re- 
peating shot-gun. 

One day he was out with Pope, the poet, and both agreed to 
note down the thoughts that came to them on the spot just as 
a fowler bags his game on the wing. 

Here are a few of Swift's mental shots: 

"Men of great valor are sometimes cowards to their wives." 

"Men will not take warning. How can they be expected to 
take advice?" 

"Elephants are always drawn smaller than life, fleas larger." 

"In weeding out prejudice, some men eradicate their own 
virtue and religion." 

"Time is the one preacher that compels people to heed 
what they have long vainly heard." 

"The latter part of a wise man's life is taken up in curing 
the false opinions and follies of the former part." 

And thus Swift went on pouring out ideas enough to fill a 
book. 

His readiness in composing was freakish. "He could write 
well on a broomstick." 

Most of his thoughts were vigorous, resembling "groans 
wrung from a strong man by torture." 

He was witty in conversation, though sarcastic. When he 
and Addison got together "neither one wished for a third 
friend." 

In the prime of his manhood he was a good-looking fellow, 
even if he did wear a gown and periwig. 

His supreme fault was hopeless pessimism. He needed the 
cheer and comfort of a wife and home. 

Near the close of his seventy-eight years, he became the 

28 




JONATHAN SWIFT 



Life in Full Zest 



picture of gloom. " Good-bye," he would say to a friend on 
parting, "I hope I shall never see you again!" 

Thus the man noted for swift thinking passed away. This 
was nearly two hundred years ago, and the world has gotten 
along tolerably fast without him 



TIP-TOP LIFE 

If constructed rather quaintly, 
Born to doing nothing faintly; 
Act your nature. Laugh and labor. 
Show excess in love of neighbor. 

Be not cramped by niceties formal. 
Keep your functions free and normal. 
Work is lotion. Every motion 
Tones and strengthens sane emotion. 

When your thinking wheels are whirring 
Muscles, also, need some stirring. 
Safety lies in sturdy action. 
Exercise is thought attraction. 

Let expression voice impression, 
Keeping thus life's school in session. 
Blood a bubbling; ideas doubling; 
Keep despair and death from troubling. 



31 



Every Life A Delight 



SECRETS OF SUCCESS 

The best single rule for success in any good undertaking is, 
Stick to it ! 

Not to stick to a good thing is the only real failure there is. 

The hardest task ever undertaken does not seem so hard to 
him that sticks to it. 

If you have a fair situation, stick to it; if you have none 
at all, stick to the search for it. 

Be enthusiastic for things useful. Worthless things are not 
worth enthusiasm. 

Never belittle your own life. Existence is mean only to the 
person who makes it so. 

Never say fate is against me. Act as though the world had 
waited for your coming and expects you to do great things. 

Do n't anticipate troubles. Care less for what may happen 
to you than for the happenings you may bring to others. 

Never think that former times were better; they will not 
come back anyway, and if they did, they would only be in the 
way of better ones now. 

Never dwell on fancied slights and wrongs. Pack your 
troubles out of other people's sight. If you must cry, cry alone 
and soon quit. 

Never take offense when none is intended. Act as though 
you were born to be happy and will not allow any one to make 
you unhappy. 

Never fly into a passion over trifles. Let your speech be 
low and smooth and it will lift you over high hills of difficulty. 

Never boast of what you can do instead of doing it. One 
practical demonstration in aviation is worth a thousand balloon 
inflations. 

Accustom yourself to doing disagreeable things in a delightful 
way. If you must turn people down, do it so delightfully that 
they will thank you for it. 

Never make mountains out of molehills. Do not exaggerate 

32 



Life in Full Zest 



at all. A normal mind enjoys normal words and has little 
respect for any others. 

Be not easily discouraged. Credit yourself for honest effort, 
and then even a partial failure will nerve you for success next 
time. 



NERVE 

Some men lack talent, some lack grit; 

Some lack desire to serve ; 
Some lack the chance to make a hit, 

But more lack nerve. 

They lack the nerve that will not quail 

In grappling any wrong, 
Nor in a crucial moment fail, 

Though foes are strong. 

The timid, hesitating man 

Who sees his rival crowned 
And then bemoans life's luckless plan, 

Needs nerve around. 

'T is nerve that steadies human aim 
And turns the cords to steel ; 

'T is nerve that sets the zeal aflame 
And wins the deal. 



33 



Every Lije A Delight 



OWNERSHIP 

The idea of possession touches a man where he lives. He 
likes to call things his own, and he never grows weary of acquire- 
ment. 

A boy is likewise fascinated with the getting of things. His 
first wages, or his earliest profit in trade, enriches his heart even 
more than his purse. 

Property in any form seems to wield a peculiar charm over 
human beings. The first fruits gathered by the ancients, the 
vast flocks, the treasured cave or tent, the crude utensils, the 
cherished springs or wells, the division of lands, all bespeak 
man's disposition to prize what he acquires. 

So, too, the old wills, some of which were in poetic form, 
teach us that to gain possession of property and hand it down 
to legal heirs constituted no small part of the delights our fore- 
fathers knew. 

No sooner had man acquired property than he began to issue 
liens upon it, and so mortgages, leases, and bonds were of old, 
as they are now, dominant features of industrial and com- 
mercial life, there being no limit to the extent of such coveted 
ownership. 

The modern stock companies, with their gigantic capitaliza- 
tion, were, of course, unknown to the ancients, and perhaps 
the moderns would have been almost as happy if such monopo- 
lies as some of them are had never been invented. 

Property is dear to man, not only because it assures him of 
a sustenance while he lives, but also because it is a safeguard to 
those he must leave behind him when he quits the earth. 

Often, too, a peculiar delight is found in so shaping property 
values that they become a monument as well as a blessing to 
oncoming generations. 

While the accumulation of property is in no sense a guar- 
antee of character, it has been asserted that "there can be no 
development of character or any other good whatever, without 
property." 

34 




HIS FIRST PROFIT 



Life in Full Zest 



To so shape property rights and the ambition of men to 
accumulate that the best interests of all may be in the highest 
degree conserved, is one of the problems now engaging the 
attention of civilization everywhere. 



THE GRASPING MAN 

The word "miser" is rarely used in these days, but his char- 
acter is here in the person of the hard, greedy, grasping man who 
lives miserably for the sake of saving and increasing his hoard. 

Possibly there are more men to-day who strive to accumulate 
big money than there are who merely seek to retain the small 
amount they have; but in spirit they are the same. 

The grasping man is all around us, the gripping man is 
right among us; possibly thou art the man. 

Yet, why do men grip their money so tightly? Surely there 
is no worse use to which it can be put. 

Money hidden away in an old stocking, or buried in a box, 
or even stored in a vault, is doing nobody any good; it is lost 
to circulation. 

Money is most useful when passing around. Currency is 
made light, and coins are made round, that they may circulate 
freely. 

Money ought not to be tied up; it should be blessing some- 
body, or earning more. 

Hoarded money shrivels the heart; better burn it up, for 
then the heart can not be set upon it. 

Salting down money pickles the heart, making it hard and 
tough, like a cucumber in vinegar. 

This is the reason why the close-fisted man is usually despised ; 
he is too much shriveled up, heartless and pitiless, to deserve 
respect. 

"Nothing in nature is so distant from God, so utterly oppo- 
site to Him both in character and ways, as a greedy gripping 
niggard." 

37 



Every Life A Delight 



EFFICIENCY 

Efficiency is the power of producing effects, or of causing 
effects to be what they are. It is manifested in ways such as 
these : 

1. To form the habit of concentration and of dauntless 
resolution. 

2. To think out every problem carefully and then solve it 
thoroughly. 

3. To be ready when opportunity comes and to make op- 
portunity when it comes not. 

4. To put heart into every undertaking and to undertake 
what you have heart for. 

5. To do everything you undertake a little better than it 
was ever done before. 

6. To make good rather than to make excuses, and to make 
ambition supply enthusiasm. 

7. To render undivided service or none, and to care less 
what the service is than how it is performed. 

8. A man passes for what he is worth, and he is worth just 
about what he brings to pass, or tries to do so. 

9. If poets are born, not made, efficient persons are made, 
not born. Masters master themselves and then other things. 

10. "Efficiency is measured in deeds, not in reasons why 
deeds are not performed." Apologies are the emptiest things 
on earth. 

11. The man who lessens his limitations increases his ef- 
ficiency; he can lessen his limitations by improving his hours of 
freedom. 

12. There are many ways in which efficiency can be devel- 
oped, such as controlling and centralizing the thoughts, volun- 
tarily improving the methods of action, and cheerily, honestly, 
loyally, soberly, and diligently doing whatsoever the hands find 
to do. 

38 



Life in Full Zest 



THE MILLIONAIRE 

O, if I were a millionaire, 

How happy I should be! 
I 'd have a 'plane to soar in air, 

A yacht to sail the sea. 

I 'd have a villa in the wood, 

A mansion in the town ; 
I 'd live in style, as rich men should, 

And never sigh nor frown. 

I 'd live a life of perfect ease ; 

Be good to all my kind; 
And, free from poverty's decrees, 

Would boundless comfort find. 



In course of time this wisher gained 

His million-dollar goal; 
But now corroding care had chained 

The powers of his soul. 

He had his yacht the sea to sail, 
His 'plane the air to cleave; 

But ugly ills were on his trail, 
His withered heart to grieve. 

His perfect ease proved constant pain; 

His bounty ne'er appeared: 
The fond ideas which racked his brain 

No soul to him endeared. 

He found small comfort in his wealth; 

He oft indulged the sigh ; 
His worries undermined his health 

And made him wish to die. 



39 




DAVID LIVINGSTONE 



RICH WITHOUT MONEY 

Alone, afar in jungle deep, 

Where Christian foot ne'er trod, 

A harvest home of souls to reap, 
Goes forth the man of God. 

No chartered rights, no civil power, 
No grants of land to hold ; 

No titled name, no kingly dower, 
No diamond mines or gold. 

40 



Life in Full Zest 



What are his riches? Duty done, 

A mission well performed ; 
For Afric's sons a victory won, 

The world-heart thrilled and warmed. 

What are his riches? Priceless fame, 

Love bonds in every zone; 
In wide research the peerless name 

Of David Livingstone. 



THE SPENDTHRIFT 

The penurious man is one extreme, the spendthrift the other. 
Both are abnormal. 

The penurious man has money and craves more; the spend- 
thrift do n't have money long, and craves it less. 

The penurious man grows rich by seeming poor; the spend- 
thrift grows poor by seeming rich. 

The penurious man selfishly robs himself; the spendthrift 
selfishly robs his heirs. 

The penurious man is strong in at least one line, that of 
shrewdness; the spendthrift is weak in all lines — he is next to 
the fool. 

From time immemorial mankind has distrusted the spend- 
thrift. Solon said, "If any man by prodigality squanders his 
own money, he can not be entrusted with the money of the 
State." 

The spendthrift generally figures among the rich; poor 
people can not breed him — they have no means of training him. 



41 



Every Life A Delight 



OUR SACRED RIGHTS 

Every man wants his rights. Some men want more than 
their rights. Many do not know what their rights are. A few 
contend that as to rights, individual, national, or epochal, there 
are no such things as rights. 

But for purely human purposes, to enable men to live to- 
gether in peace, there must be some sort of agreement; and 
through all the past there has been an almost incessant struggle 
to reach satisfactory conclusions as to just what rights each and 
every man may claim. 

Men are brought into, life without their leave, and must 
take their chances among others wherever they happen to find 
themselves. Those who wake up and find themselves amidst 
favorable environments usually prosper and have good times, 
while others less favorably situated languish and die. 

But intelligent men, however they find themselves placed, 
generally find it necessary to come to some sort of an understand- 
ing with their fellows as to just what privileges and oppor- 
tunities are to be theirs whether or no. so that all may live and 
none justly complain. The agreement they reach is called 
common right. 

In theory, under this common right, every one is supposed 
to receive some good and to be protected equitably with the 
rest from avoidable evil. 

This does not imply that all are to be reduced, or raised up, 
to a dead level as to social position and property value, although 
a few contend that these features are to an extent involved 
in it. 

It is an old saying that variety is the spice of life, and it is 
certainly true that under most conditions social life is thus well 
spiced. Variation in all forms is endless. 

And variation, too, seems to be inevitable. Nature herself 
sets the pattern. No two grains of wheat are alike. No two 
days of human experience are the same. No two persons have 

42 



Life in Full Zest 



ever started out with the same endowments, or tendencies, or 
equipments, or capabilities, or ambitions and aspirations. 
Nature seems to intend variation. 

The two great forces which unite to make man a progressive 
being are desire and necessity. These, humanly speaking, are 
the pillars of civilization. And these forces, however much the 
theorists would like to modify them, are always tending to 
produce variation in condition and achievement. No amount 
of agitation can ever mold into uniformity and absolute equality 
the practical results of these forces in operation. 

Men may prate about the need of reconstruction in the 
social fabric, and wax warm in advocating the principles and 
beautiful theories of a contemplated redistribution of property 
interests, but they can not get away from, nor one step beyond, 
the indubitable fact that Nature has not constituted us all alike; 
or, even if she had, some would soon be bolting the likeness, 
kicking against the tendency and transforming themselves into 
endless oddities. 

Men find fault with the system of competition now in vogue, 
and we must all admit that it has some bad features; but whether 
a system of contribution and distribution would in the long run 
work any better remains to be proved. 

The assertion is often made that under the competitive 
system certain classes are privileged, and that per contra other 
classes are oppressed, but no certain way is ever pointed out 
how to eradicate from human nature the competitive principle. 
It is an inborn trait; it is man himself. 

Under the competitive system some persons attain to a high 
degree of success while others fail, and then it is held by certain 
classes that society is to blame for the failure ; but this ignores a 
primary truth, that success is always a matter of degree, and 
that experience in one period of life may prove to a man as 
valuable an asset as piles of gold or bonds. 

To strive for legitimate success is the right of every man, 
but in the striving he must not go beyond the bound of the 
common good even though custom, sentiment, or law itself 

43 



Every Life A Delight 



should bid him trespass. No man has the right to make of him- 
self a privileged character to the hurt of others. Every right 
has its social bearings. 

Once it was conceded that kings had divine rights, that is, 
the right to do as they pleased whether they pleased to do right 
or not. The modern spirit, however, has changed all this, and 
kings, like other people, are expected to live decently, to respect 
the rights of their subjects and to set noble examples in gener- 
osity and magnanimity. The world moves. 



THE GOLDEN RULE 

There is a cord whose every strand 
Enfolds the whole wide earth ; 

No East or West in any land, 
Nor any South or North. 

It oinds strong natures everywhere 
In common love and weal; 

Its vital force and tender care 
The weak and poor must feel. 

Let hands be joined; let hearts unite 

This golden cord to tone, 
That none may feel injustice blight 

In any land or zone. 

As ye from others always would 

A mite of good receive, 
So ye to others always should 

A wealth of deference give. 



44 



Life in Full Zest 



RIGHTS NOT IDENTICAL 

As to the notion that every man has, by virtue of his unasked 
existence on earth, an absolute right to the identical things of 
each and every kind that any other man has, it is plain that 
such an adjustment is in the very nature of things absolutely 
and forever impossible. 

There are not enough of some desirable things to go around, 
and therefore some men must go without them. 

There are a few — only a few — big diamonds in the world; 
and though very valuable, and to some very desirable, it is 
evident that only a few can have them. 

But if there were enough big diamonds for each and all, it is 
manifest that some could not use them, others would soon lose 
them, and if so common, no one would prize them, and hence 
these peerless ornaments would be treated like stones in the 
highway. 

It is our social organization that gives value to many things 
which men covet. Outside of necessities, it is talent, aptitude, 
adaptation, natural attraction, and sympathetic concession 
which determine possession, and these things can not be changed 
by legislation or individual choice — they are ingrained in the 
natural constitution of things. 

There has never been a time in the world's history when men 
in general have proposed such a thing as identity of possession 
or privilege. 

In the great historic documents which men of high and low 
degree have mutually supported as setting forth their inherent 
claims, the idea of identity has not appeared. 

The same is true of the epochal movements and legal sanc- 
tions standing out in history like wells in a desert — they have 
helped to establish common rights, but have suggested no identity 
of interest. 

In the English Magna Charta, which gave to all freemen the 
two main rights of civil society, viz: security from arbitrary 
imprisonment and from arbitrary spoliation, there was no hint 

45 



Every Life A Delight 



of absolute sameness in every relation either as to property or 
privilege. It was simply conceded that a freeman could not be 
dispossessed of property or liberty without due process of law, 
and that if any had so suffered, his rights in these particulars 
were to be forthwith restored. This principle was also laid 
down: "We will sell to no man, we will not deny to any man, 
either justice or right." 

In the declaration of American colonial rights made in the 
first Continental Congress (1774) there was no contention for 
privileges, rights, or immunities further than those laid down 
in the Magna Charta of King John, and these were claimed by 
the Colonists as "the free and natural-born subjects of England." 

The same is true in the declaration of rights by Virginia 
(May 27, 1776). It was held only that "All men are by nature 
equally free, and are invested with inalienable rights — namely, 
the enjoyment of life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happi- 
ness and safety." Nothing is said about equality otherwise. 

The Declaration of Independence, adopted July 4, 1776, did 
scarcely more than to reaffirm these Colonial rights, and the 
same is true of the Constitution of the United States, though the 
latter document, being framed by and for the benefit of one 
race alone, has no bill of rights in it. 

In the matter of universal human equality there has been 
some criticism rather than praise of that clause in the American 
Declaration of Independence which reads, "All men are created 
free and equal." What did the signers mean in saying that? 

Certainly they did not mean that all men are equal in ability, 
strength, influence, or in possessions. They could only have 
meant that all men are equal in right to life, liberty, and the 
pursuit of happiness. There have always been, and always 
must be, gradations of life and work in America, distinctions in 
professions and positions, and in the recognition of fitness, skill,, 
and power. 

Free born Americans are assured of equality before the law, 
openness of opportunity, and of freedom to aspire to any posi- 
tion or available favor or possession — in a word, "the square 
deal;" but all Americans can not become the President of the 

46 




YOUNG AMERICA 



Life in Full Zest 



United States, or governor, or judge, or even millionaires. 
Nature and man by common consent set boundaries. 

Here is the essence of true Americanism: 

The rights of man to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- 
ness are inalienable and given of God. 

The rights of man must not be trampled upon by any form 
of power, but must be regulated by just and legal procedure. 

Government must rest upon the consent of the governed, 
and freedom must be safeguarded by law and order. The end 
of freedom is fair play for all. 

People must be allowed to choose their own rulers. An open 
ballot and a fair count are imperative. The decisions of majori- 
ties must be respected until squarely reversed by the popular 
will. 

Taxation without representation is tyranny. Burdens, 
privileges, and opportunities must be equalized, but conditions 
and estates can not be equalized by arbitrary force. 

Liberty is a divine gift, and union a human necessity; but the 
selfish interests of persons, classes, and sections must be sub- 
ordinated to the public welfare. Lawless violence is a crime. 

A free State should set an example of virtue, sobriety, rever- 
ence, and honor, opposing oppression, encouraging progress, 
making it as easy as possible for people to be good, and as diffi- 
cult as possible to be bad. 

Patriotism is the highest style of true nobility. Our country 
first, last, and all the time. The consecration of the citizen him- 
self, his property, his service, and, if need be, his life, to the 
existence and perpetuity of the State is a supreme duty. 



49 



Every Life A Delight 



JUST WORK 

Work is life's most normal plan; 
Work puts worry under ban; 
Work its own results doth scan; 
Just work! 

Work promoteth more than wealth ; 
Work is tonic for the health ; 
Work builds strength as if by stealth ; 
Just work! 

Work will nerve the moral arm; 
Work will keep a chap from harm ; 
Work life's griefs away will charm; 
Just work! 

Work is pastime for the free; 
Work in earnest takes the fee; 
Work and you will happy be; 
Just work! 



THE FITNESS OF THINGS 

From many considerations it is plain that the expression 
"the common rights of men" does not, has never, and can not 
be made to include for every individual every value, every honor, 
every responsibility, every reward, and every advantage known 
to society, for common sense ordains that while men differ as 
they do in natural, moral, social, and business capacity there 
can be no such a thing as a common right of this character. 

All men are not equally fit for all things. Nature has given 
to some of them a monopoly that can not be taken away. No 
lawyer can take from a fellow lawyer, like Daniel Webster, for 
instance, a preponderance of natural gift and legal ability, nor 
the rewards which flow from these things. 

50 



Life in Full Zest 



No man can take from Thomas A. Edison his gift for inven- 
tion, nor prevail upon others to take from him the emoluments 
which the common law accords to him. 

Find fault with it as men may, Nature herself is the greatest 
of all monopoly builders, and the human monopolists are blam- 
able chiefly because, unlike Nature, they abuse their gifts, or 
trusts. They go greedily beyond their needs, beyond the law, 
and beyond reason. It is the mission of men, in their onward 
progress, to correct the unreasonable and unlawful exactions of 
such greed. 

Another phase of this question requires consideration. 
Human nature differs in individuals so much that distinctions 
and variations are inevitable. 

Some men naturally take better advantage of their educa- 
tional opportunities than others, and thus they attain to far 
better qualifications for a given work or responsibility than 
others do, thus gravitating naturally and by a sort of common 
consent into places of trust and prominence where the masses 
can not enter, and have no right to enter because they have not 
prepared themselves for it. 

What right has a man of willful ignorance to become a college 
president? 

What right has a natural coward, who has never sought to 
master his own defect, to assume to lead an army into battle? 

What right has a confirmed thief to become the custodian 
of public funds? 

What right has a lazy, shiftless loafer to demand the earn- 
ings of a hard worker? 

Agitators may prate about equality until doomsday, but the 
common run of mankind will always recognize merit, acknowl- 
edge power, discern fitness and adaptation, and reward industry 
and honesty. 

And then, too, in this country society is made up of many 
races, many shades of belief, many degrees of culture, many 
stages of advancement, and many phases of experience. Until 
human nature itself changes, these variations of development 
and condition will be practically recognized in the adjustment 

51 



Every Life A Delight 



of duties and privileges. Men know that there can be no levels 
in this world which do not admit of prominences. 

Can an unlettered immigrant just arrived in New York 
justly expect to be appointed pastor of a great church in that 
city? 

Can an unwashed anarchist, fresh from the Old World, 
properly demand that the riches of a life-long, hard-working 
American shall immediately be transferred to him? 

To ask such a question is to answer it. While men continue 
to reason they will continue to insist on the natural fitness and 
inevitable adjustment of all things. 

The theoretic rights of a few men in a state of nature are 
wholly unlike the proper rights of many men in a condition of 
civil society. The customs of barbarism do not go in civiliza- 
tion. Progressive life has no place for primitive crudities. 
Fundamental changes are of slow development, but usually 
they are grounded in the deepest wisdom and soundest morality 
of advancing social life. No man in civilized society can regard 
his own preference and inclinations alone, but must subordinate 
them to the rules and usages of the governing hosts around him. 
In his natural propensities he must reckon with the demands 
and restriction of his associates. 

If he have natural talents, he must use them in accordance 
with the directions and limitations of those he would serve. 
If he acquires property it must be under the laws which control 
property owners. Nothing is, or can be, secure to him except 
by legal title, and in all things he is bound as a moral agent to 
the relation he sustains to others. 

If he take the property of another contrary to law, he is, 
justly branded as a thief, and if he take the life of another 
without law he is denounced as a murderer. This status of 
our social life is the outgrowth of ages of the best teaching and 
most approved procedure, and it is unthinkable that revolu- 
tionary changes can occur while man's constitution remains as 
it is. 

Men can not live in peace without law. The wiser the law, 
the more perfect the peace. No law has yet been developed 

52 



Life in Full Zest 



under which men do not propose to punish the violators of law. 
Any law would be nothing but a rope of sand that would allow 
to the lawless all the freedom it accords to the law-abiding. 
Under it life would not be worth living, .nor property worth the 
having. No law can endure the test of experience which does 
not seek to restrain the strong from oppressing the weak, the 
cunning from defrauding the simple, the blood-thirsty from 
destroying the harmless. But the maintenance of such a law 
involves the protection of those who keep the law in guarantee- 
ing to them the just rewards of labor and the fruits of the helpful 
exercise of their faculties. 

As well might wild beasts — lions, tigers, wolves, foxes — be 
turned loose among domesticated animals — cows, horses, sheep, 
and fowl — as for men of all passions, all propensities, all ambi- 
tions, all ideas of propriety to attempt to live together under 
the notion that every one has a natural right to everything 
within his reach or sight. Anarchy and chaos would mark the 
spot where such an experiment might be tried. 

Brute beasts must be kept under man's law. The brute in- 
stinct in man must likewise be restrained. 

It is necessary, however, in social restraints that force be 
tempered by justice, and justice be supplemented by charity. 

The laws which enlightened men have enacted for the com- 
mon good all recognize these principles, being based upon 
necessity and reason rather than upon passion and impulse. 

Such laws may be modified and improved under the light of 
progress, but they are not likely to be displaced or abandoned 
while human nature remains as it is, even though the disobedient 
do sometimes enter their protest. 



53 



Every Life A Delight 



LIVE AND LEARN 

We live to learn, and learn by living; 

We're born to give, and gain by giving; 

A gift of thought, a small suggestion, 

May throw bright light on some dark question. 

The humblest souls are sometimes teachers. 

Events themselves are brilliant preachers. 

Our common life is fraught .with knowledge 

As forceful as that taught at college. 

Our principles may be related 

To vague emotions never stated. 

The feeblest hint may aid the lever 

That elevates to action clever. 

Fit candidates are oft elected 

By happenings quite unexpected. 

The ready man may prove the winner 

Of highest prize, though mere beginner. 

He wins the most in fair existence 

Who keeps his wits in keen persistence. 

The wide-awake are foremost learners — 

Rewards are given quick discerners. 

Then live to learn, and learn by living. 

Begin to give, and gain by giving. 



BASIC LAWS 

From time immemorial wise men have been seeking for 
noble and just principles to incorporate into their legal codes. 

Up to date they seem to have discovered nothing more rudi- 
mentary, or more widely and heartily approved, than the great 
moral mandates so strangely given to mankind some three or 
four thousand years ago. 

It is the consensus of accepted opinion that the Ten Com- 
mandments of Moses are, to say the least of them, far better 

54 



Life in Full Zest 



life rules than the brute instincts of the tiger and swine, or even 
the natural longings and passionate propensities of men who 
scoff at moral codes. 

There is scarcely a law upon the statute books of civilized 
States which does not in some way reflect the basic principles 
of the Mosaic teachings. 

Critics may differ in opinion as to just how much Moses, or 
some other writer, may have had to do with the formulation of the 
Biblical code, but all men agree remarkably well that the code 
itself embodies much justice and wisdom. 

This is true because the average man is conscious that the 
laws forbidding murder, robbery, uncleanness, irreverence, 
profanity, and false-witnessing are better rules to live by, be- 
cause safer for all concerned, than the impulses of the greedy, 
the promptings of the avaricious, the demands of the covetous, 
or even the necessities of the unfortunate. 

Common right under civil law is preferable to special privilege 
under barbaric conditions. 

It therefore follows that when a member of enlightened 
society contends for unqualified natural right he is pleading for 
political revolution, if not for civil chaos. For the order which the 
wisdom of the ages has established he would substitute untried 
theories. For the fruits which men under centuries of regulated 
endeavor have garnered he would substitute the forbidding 
proposition of a new distribution. 

Much is said in these days about the right of the producers 
of wealth to own and control all the wealth they produce. This 
will do when it is proved that none are producers of wealth ex- 
cept those who claim it all. Society in general appears to re- 
gard wealth as the product of labor, thrift, forethought, hus- 
banding, self-denial, and other such elements. 

Labor is capital in primary form. Capital is stored-up 
labor. Labor needs capital to assist it in rising above piimitive 
conditions. Capital needs labor to make modern conditions as 
favorable as possible. Therefore labor and capital are comple- 
ments of each other, and when they unite in turning out wealth 
they should be mutually rewarded. 

55 



Every Life A Delight 



Laboring men err when they would arrogate to themselves 
all values. Capitalists also err when they fail to accord to labor 
its full reward. Both must make concessions and pull together 
in harmony. 

The following principles as to the common rights of men in 
civil society are submitted for what they are worth: 

1. Men have a right to demand from society an equally 
fair opportunity to serve according to capacity, natural or 
acquired, and reward commensurate with service. 

2. Men have a right to expect full protection in the proper 
use and enjoyment of those things which, by industry, thrift, 
care, and economy they have gotten together. 

3. Men have a right to esteem wealth for all it is worth, and 
to insist upon worth irrespective of wealth. 

4. Men have a right to insist that neither wealth nor 
poverty shall make a man inhuman, nor exempt him from the 
duties of good citizenship, the claims of enlightened brother- 
hood, or the civilities of a well-ordered life. 

5. Men have a right to propose that while all men can not 
be reduced to a dead level of ownership in property, or utiliza- 
tion of resources, nevertheless all should be leveled up to decent 
ideals and be placed above hopeless destitution. 

6. Men have a right to require that all men shall so live as 
to be fit to live with, sober, civil, law-abiding, orderly, reasonable, 
charitable, and, above all, constructive rather than destructive. 

7. Men have a right to proceed upon the principle that 
while corporations have no souls, all incorporators shall be 
honest, just, humane, considerate, and reasonable. 

8. Men have a right to proclaim for ever and the day after 
the heraldic sentiment of the old Knights of Labor that "In- 
justice to one is the proper concern of all," and also the some- 
what newer legend that "Equal and exact justice to all is a 
fitting ideal for every one." 

56 



Life in Full Zest 



9. To sum up: Every man may claim the right to live a 
man's life, to have before him the possibility of coming to his 
own best, and the proper encouragement of that best by his fel- 
low-men, and this not for his sake only, but also for the common 
good. 



AN ELIXIR 

Courting life is life sustaining; 
Longing lengthens life remaining; 
Vigor comes from up-and-getting; 
Substance-gleaning lessens fretting. 

Aspirations keep us going; 
Love of harvest; zeal in sowing; 
There's no vim in satisfaction; 
Craving is the spring of action. 

See that sturdy mountain-climber! 
Eager, agile, wise old-timer; 
Nerves in tension; muscles wiry; 
Lo! he scales the eagle's eyrie. 

Crowns wait not for idle dreamers; 
There's no peak for valley screamers; 
Get your wish with workers chiming; 
Dry up sniffling; go to climbing. 

Mount Life's engine, seize the lever, 
Turn on steam and go on ever; 
Look not backward, stay in motion — 
Quitting is a dead man's notion. 



57 



Every Life A Delight 



HONOR 

In popular conception honor in man means truth ; in woman, 
purity; in both, or either, it is the distinguishing mark of a 
noble mind. 

Honor aids and strengthens Virtue wherever it meets her, 
and it lauds and intensifies Integrity at every turn. 

Honor springs from within, because it abides in the heart; 
it is not the outgrowth of ambition or the fruit of opinion. 

In persons of character honor is held dearer than life; in 
self-respecting nations it is a primal governing principle. ''That 
nation is worthless that will not, with pleasure, venture all for 
its honor." 

Honor in man may be unstable and yet survive ; in woman it 
is "as nice as ermine; it will not bear a soil." 

True honor can stand the severest tests. It is as sound as 
marble. Probe deep and the solidity and whiteness are still 
there. 

I 've scanned the actions of his daily life 
With all the industrious malice of a foe; 
And nothing meets my eye but deeds of honor. 

Messenger was asked to speak the height of honor, and he 
replied : 

No man to offend, 

Ne'er to reveal the secrets of a friend; 

Rather to suffer than do a wrong; 

To make the heart no stranger to the tongue; 

Provok'd not to betray an enemy, 

Nor eat his meat, I choke with flattery; 

Blushless to tell wherefore I wear my scars, 

Or for my conscience, or my country's wars; 

To aim at just things; if we have wildly run 

Into offenses — wish them all undone. 

'T is poor in grief, for a wrong done to die, 

Honor to dare to live, and satisfy. 

An abiding sense of honor affords more real comfort and 
happiness to any man or woman than all the money or station 
or conquest that any unprincipled person ever won. 

58 




THE SOUL OF HONOR 



Life in Full Zest 



PRINCIPLE 

Every man should govern his life by principle, not by 
opinion or caprice. 

Here are some bed-rock principles which can safely and 
happily be adopted: 

1. I will look upon life as a mission worthy of my best skill 
and endeavor. 

2. I will consider the condition of those around me and 
help those who need help. 

3. As far as practicable I will aid in promoting all well-being. 

4. As I have opportunity I will gladly serve all good causes. 

5. In claims of right and duty I will respond promptly, even 
at a sacrifice. 

6. In exercising my right of private judgment I will respect 
the rights of others. 

7. In morality and religion I will keep a clean record, a clear 
conscience, and a forceful advance. 

8. In private habits I will avoid vice, an irritable temper, 
hurtful talk, and pernicious practices. 

9. In home life I will be companionable, faithful, provident, 
charitable, congenial, hospitable, and well contented. 

10. In secret life I will do right, think purely, shun suspicion, 
suppress jealousy, overcome faults, and fear God. 

11. In business affairs I will follow the golden rule, live and 
let live, neither defrauding, stealing, misrepresenting, nor con- 
cealing. 

12. In public life I will be civil, sincere, pleasant, serviceable, 
setting a wholesome example, looking the devil in the face, and 
doing the square thing though dying on the spot. 



61 



Every Life A Delight 



WOMANLINESS 

Alert, not light; and keen, not bold; 
A character of purest gold; 
Reserved, yet ready; warm in heart; 
A lover of the lyric art; 
A quick, discerning, thoughtful mind; 
In conversation frank and kind; 
A friend for once a friend for aye; 
A faithful helpmeet, come what may. 

Mature, not old; and wise, not wild; 
As playful as a little child ; 
In touch with wisdom born of years; 
Upheld by right, unmoved by fears; 
God-trusting as life's strongest hold; 
Peculiar-like, but self-controlled ; 
Adhering to the straightest path; 
Devoid of secrets, guile, or wrath. 

Well-poised, not proud; and firm, not vain; 

A spirit of the finest strain ; 

A beauteous form, expressive face, 

A flashing eye, a glance of grace, 

A queenly bearing — nature's own — 

A voice of cultivated tone, 

A mother's tenderness expressed, 

And as a mother, oft caressed. 



62 



■ 


1 


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IP**** I 


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CLASSIC WOMANHOOD 



Life in Full Zest 



THE BARGAIN WITH SELF 

People delight to make bargains with themselves, and these 
bargains are usually the best of bargains for themselves, provid- 
ing for all sorts of indulgences at a cost which they imagine will 
be only nominal. 

One person delights to indulge in questionable secret thought-, 
and agrees with himself "never to tell, never," forgetful of the 
fact that as a man thinketh so is he, and usually the kind of a 
man he is is written in open letters' upon his face. Such a bar- 
gain is a bad one; it gives away character. 

Another person is prone to bad talking, his motive being to 
make his hearers laugh, or to pass himself off as jovial good fel- 
low; and he thinks that his vulgarity is excusable because he 
agreed with himself that it should be "just for fun" and not to 
harm anybody; but he finds in the end that he has hurt himself, 
demoralized many, and perpetrated a life-long very bad bargain. 

No matter what the bargain with self is, it always favors 
self both as to laxity in terms and the enforcement of penalties. 
All selfish people propose to get along in life without much 
penance or self-sacrifice. 

Now, it never seems to occur to these selfish people that it is 
entirely inconsistent to excuse in themselves what they roundly 
denounce in others, for that which they condemn in others as 
vice can not be virtue in themselves, however fondly they may 
dream of escaping punishment. Public sentiment, if nothing- 
more, will mete out to them deserved wrath. 

Some one makes the point that "self-love is more cunning 
than the most cunning man in the world." So it is, and any 
man w T ho yields to it inordinately is sure to be defeated in the 
game of life. 

Self-love is the greatest of flatterers, and is never sincere 
enough to tell the truth, even though peril awaits the self-de- 
lusion. The selfish man is his own most merciless enemy. 

"Do you want to know the person against whom you have 
most reason to guard yourself? Look in the mirror and see him." 
5 65 



Every Life A Delight 



There is on record the case of a man who ' ' pleased not him- 
self," but he thereby brought into the world greater possibilities 
of pleasure to others than all the self-seeking characters that 
have lived since Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit 
and destroyed their own happiness. 



THE CRAVING FOR NEWS 

Hunger gives eagerness to the appetite and relish to the 
taste. 

Hunger for news is an inborn trait developed into an in- 
satiable passion. 

The questions which spring of tenest to human lips are these : 
What is the news? What has happened? What's going on? 

These queries in all their varied forms begin in babyhood, 
strengthen in childhood, intensify in youth, and become in- 
satiable in adult life. 

The little boy with his new story or secret to tell has his 
counterpart in the grown person with a newspaper. 

The news ! our morning, noon, and evening cry, 

Day after day repeats it till we die. 

For this the cit, the critic, and the fop, 

Dally the hour away in tonsor's shop; 

For this the gossip takes her daily route, 

And wears your threshold and your patience out ; 

For this we leave the parson in the lurch, 

And pause to prattle on our way to church; 

E'en when some coffin'd friend we gather round, 

We ask, " What news ?" — then lay him in the ground. 

And what a mighty agency has been established for the 
dissemination of news! All lands abound with it. Every city 
and hamlet have it. That would be a slow and sleepy neighbor- 
hood which has no newspaper. 

It is chronicled that a French physician first projected a 
regular printed newspaper. He had found his professional visits 

66 




SOMETHING NEW 



Life in Full Zest 



so welcome whenever he had any news or gossip that he applied 
to Cardinal Richelieu for a patent to publish the Paris Gazette, 
in 1622. 

But there had been written sheets of news distributed long 
before that rime, and in Xuremberg as early as 1457 there had 
been a daily record circulated, though no copy of it has been 
preserved. 

The first American newspaper was published in Boston, 
September 25, 1690. It was called Public Occurrences, and was 
devoted to "truth, conscience, and religion." 

It seems like a pity that the thousands of newspapers founded 
since that time have not adhered a little more closely to the 
original pattern; at least, had they not magnified so much the 
follies, vices, and miseries of the multitudes, society would have 
been the gainer. 



AS YOU TAKE THEM 

The experiences of life are about as you take them. A hard 
knock is a lay-out to some, and a bracing-up to others. 

Life is a training school. Disaster, misfortune, fatigue, and 
exposure are the teachers. Kicks, cuffs, and blows are the text- 
books 

Commencement day arrives only when we quit the school. 
We take our diploma along as a voucher in the great beyond. 

It is remarkable how differently the students view the dis- 
cipline. Some get angry and pout. Some give up and cry. 
Others stand up and conquer. Happy they who emerge as 
masters. 

Different are the ways of looking at things. Here are illus- 
trations: 

Raindrop the first: "Always chill, chill, and wet, tossed by 
the wind, devoured by the sea." Rain-drop second: "Aha! 
The sun kissed me, the tiower caught me. the fields blessed me." 

Brook the first: "Struck by the rock, dashed off the mill- 

69 



Every Life A Delight 



wheel." Brook the second: "I sang the miller to sleep. I 
ground the grist. O this gay somersault over the wheel!" 

Horse the first: "Pull! pull! pull! This tugging in the 
traces, and laying back in the breechings, and standing at a post 
with a sharp wind hanging icicles to my nostrils." Horse the 
second gives a horse laugh: "A useful life I have been per- 
mitted to lead. See that corn! I helped break the sod and run 
out the furrows. On a starlight night I filled the ravines and 
mountains with the voice of jingling bells and the laugh of the 
sleigh-riding party. Then to have the children throw in an 
extra quart at my call, and have Jane pat me on the nose and 
say, 'Poor (?) Charlie.' To bound along with an arched neck, 
and flaring eye, and clattering hoof, and hear people say, 'There 
goes a two-forty.' " 

Bird the first: "Weary of migration. Xo one to pay me for 
my song. Only here to be shot at." Bird the second: " I have 
the banquet of a thousand wheatfields, cup of the lily to drink 
out of, aisle of the forest to walk in, Mount Washington under 
foot, and a continent at a glance." 

You see how much depends on the way you look at things. 



70 



PART SECOND 
LIFE'S MORNING GLEE 



O, let the children romp and play! 
Life's springtime soon will pass away. 
In beauteous innocence and cheer 
Let flowers bloom around them here. 




INNOCENT AND SWEET' 



SWEET INNOCENCE 



Of all the people on earth at any one time, a large proportion 
of them are innocent children. 

These children are clean-minded, pure-hearted, and as harm- 
less and playful as lambs. They charm our firesides, soften our 
hardships, enliven our associations, inspirit our undertakings, 
and help so much in making life beautiful. 

Children usually have good manners. They seldom need to 
be criticised. With better adult models, most of them would 
turn out better. 

Some one said, "Boys will be boys." He forgot to add, 
"Boys will be men," and should have added, "Most boys are 
chips off the old blocks." 

Children are usually happy little creatures. They have no 

'75 



Every Life A Delight 



forebodings, no disturbing memories, and usually no severe 
struggle for existence. 

"Where children are, there is the golden age;" and when 
the golden age comes in for good, those who enjey it most will 
be in moral character very much like little children. 

THE PLEASED CHILD 

Let me but speak to please the child 
A word of gladness, sane and mild; 
Kis little heart is undefiled — 
Mark that bright smile! 

Let me but act the child to please, 
And place his little soul at ease, 
Xor plague him harshly, tempt, or tease, 
Much less defile. 

Let me but share, in manlike grace, 
The innocence of that sweet face, 
Nor after hurtful phantoms chase 
In wretched guile. 




"That Bright Smile" 



Life's Morning Glee 



DELIGHTFUL LITTLE TRAITS 

Here are some little traits of character which make child- 
hood, as well as adult life, attractive and beautiful: 

1. To do right always. Xo king could do better. 

2. To cheer up somebody. This is princely. 

3. To be content with little. The essence of wisdom. 

4. To become strong. Weakness is never a virtue. 

5. To forge ahead. Xo pigmy is excusable who might be- 
come a giant. 

6. To conquer one's own spirit. Self-mastery is the supreme 
science. 

7. To put vim and vigor into action. There is no surer way 
of becoming somebody. 

3. To help those who need it. This dissipates clouds from 
other brows and reflects light on our own. 

9. To be good-natured. One who is not born with a sweet 
temper and learns to control the one he has reaches a climax in 
philosophy. 

10. To talk lively when depressed. Melancholy yields to 
cheerfulness. Glum silence is a prison cell for the sour-hearted. 

11. To correct one's own faults. This is simple shrewdness, 
for a fault detracts from influence and subtracts from capital. 

12. To keep troubles to self. This is neighborliness. Many 
a man would leap over a precipice to escape a bore. 

13. To watch one's own steps. This is to put on a life pre- 
server. X'o road is so smooth as to be without pitfalls. 

14. To look on the sunny side. This preserves the eyesight. 
We like to see bright pictures, but it strains the eyes to discern 
them in the shadows. 



/ / 



Every Life A Delight 



SELF-HELP HINTS 

Extract profit from every experience. 

Forgive all faults except your own. 

Keep your tongue short and your hand long. 

To be truly rich, do not crave more than you need. 

Think of ease, but work on. God hates a quitter. 

Speak well of your friend ; of your enemy say nothing. 

Be always on guard, but let no man know it. 

You are not poor while you have strength to work, and a 
good chance. 

To do no good while living is to invite a beast-like death. 

No man is as good as he ought to be who does not wish to 
become better. 

Well begun is half-done, but pride in the finish is a big help. 

Live in a worry, die in a hurry. Fret is only another name for 
a shroud. 

Prosperity is a generous man's friend, but a selfish man's 
worst enemy. 

Few die of hunger, many of surfeits. The mouth is Death's 
favorite door. 

To tell less than you know is wisdom. To say what you 
should is courage. 

To trust to the spur of the occasion is felly. Occasion does 
not make spurs. 

A large part of virtue is to refuse to learn bad things for the 
sake of knowing them. 

The excesses of youth are drafts upon age, payable with 
usury about thirty-five years after date. 



78 




THE STRAWSTACK TOBOGGAN 



FUN ALIVE 

Down the straws tack, here we go! 
Fun more lively none can know. 
Heels uplifted, hands in air, 
How the chance of Fate we dare! 

Sliding! Gliding! Sakes alive! 
How we youngsters grow and thrive! 
Climbing nimbly to the top, 
Just to feel another drop. 

Down the strawstack glide in glee, 
Having fun alive are we! 
Do n't you wish yourself a child, 
Just to have this pleasure wild? 
79 




HAPPY BROTHERS 



LAUGH AND LIVE LONG 



Laughter promotes health. Every hearty laugh adds a 
moment to life. 

Laughing aids digestion. A good shake of the sides is a 
better dissolver of food than a dyspeptic tablet. 

Laughter is the soul's health, moroseness is its poison. One 
tear of joy outweighs a thousand tears of grief. 

Good humor is life's clear blue sky, ill humor its clouds and 
darkness. 

The blackest and most utterly lost of all days is that in 
which you have not once smiled. 

In the house a good laugh is sunshine, and in the social circle 
it is a fine article of dress. No one is so slouchily arrayed as the 
cynic. 

80 



Life's Morning Glee 



Next to a soul-stirring prayer is a genuine laugh, and it 
would not be surprising if the parsons of the future were re- 
quired to be free from dyspepsia before being ordained. 

Good humor is possible in any situation if only there be a 
humorist to expose it. Sadness has often succumbed to satire. 

Litigation has its funny aspects. The lawyer noted for wit 
is generally a winner. He turns the gravest law-suits into gay 
dress-suits. 

John Bunyan allowed that "Some things are of that nature 
as to make one's fancy choke while his heart doth ache." Chok- 
ing with merriment is preferable to heart disease. 

Excess of laughter, like excess of food, is in poor taste, but 
if the former excess can cure the latter, then success to it. 



BEING SATISFIED 

To be normally satisfied in life we must first of all make the 
best of things which are beyond our control, and we must never 
indulge in longing for what is unattainable or worthless. 

We must also be strong to endure pain, or disappointment, 
or affliction, taking the things of life as they come, or as we may 
be able to mold them. 

It is likewise helpful to look for good in all things and try to 
do our best whether thanked for it or not. 

Real satisfaction is from within. It is quickness of the 
spirit to grasp elusive joys before they can escape and counting 
one's lot as good enough, even though not quite as favorable .as 
some one's else. 

Satisfaction belongs to us for the taking; a little here, a 
little there, through effort, growth, sacrifice, and noble bearing, 
expecting the best and preparing ourselves for it. 

Look for goodness, look for gladness; 

You will meet them all the while; 
If you bring a smiling visage 

To the glass, you'll meet a smile. 
6 81 



Every Life A Delight 



You can not be satisfied with yourself or the world if you 
become reckless, or wasteful, or dissipated, or vicious. You 
must be somebody and contribute something to life. 

Rectitude is the greater satisfier of the heart. 

The best sermon any man can write is simply to be what he 
wishes others to become. 

"The good alone are great." This old adage endures the 
test of time. Bad men may be notorious; rich men may be 
powerful; talented men may be famous, but the morally square 
men are monumental. 

Character is the indispensable condition of delight. Without 
it the happiest angel would become a miserable devil. 

To do something for others every day, even though a very 
little thing, is a good habit to form. It will help to enlarge 
your sympathies and your knowledge of social conditions. 

To seek for something decidedly cheery and beautiful every 
day is another fine little practice. It may be only a flower to 
see, a kind word to hear, a bright thought to consider, but such 
acquisitions help much to enrich the mentality and to increase 
the capacity for happiness. 

Then, to add a mite to memory's store is a wise procedure. 
Commit to heart a striking motto, a radiant epigram, a beauti- 
ful verse, or a helpful phrase and you will be laying by wealth 
for the future. Some day when you are ill, or sad, or lonely, or 
in suffering, or dying, these memorized passages will come 
back to you like whispers of peace and good cheer from the 
sweetest hours of your lifetime. 



82 




A RICH CROP 



GREAT LITTLE HEARTS 

In the orchard fruits abound, 
Limbs are loaded to the ground; 
Hatless children, bare of feet, 
Theirs the joy to pluck and eat. 

Now they're sated, and away 
Go the urchins, blithe and gay, 
Basket loaded! What a lift! 
Tender lifters! What a gift! 

See the brilliant sunshine- glint! 
See the pretty faces squint ! 
Sunshine-hearted, bless the dears! 
Give those burden-bearers cheers! 



S3 



Every Life A Delight 



TRUST 

What is stronger than a lion? 

In their own way, three things are stronger than a lion, 
innocence, love, and trust. 

"He is armed without who is innocent within." "No 
breastplate is stronger than a heart untainted." 

The innocence of children often counts for their deliverance. 
Even savage beasts seem to realize that the tenderness of children 
entitles them to protection. 

The little. daughter of a lion-tamer was once known to step 
up to a huge lion that had escaped from his cage and pat his 
jaws while the beast showed no sign of displeasure. 

Love, too, is stronger than a lion. Saul and Jonathan were 
"lovely and pleasant in their lives," and they "were stronger 
than lions." Love can brave any danger and overcome any 
obstacle. It is energy on fire and nerve in extreme tension. 

Trust is also stronger than a lion. The trusting Daniel 
found himself delivered from a den full of the mighty beasts, and 
thousands of the worthies of old through trust "shut the mouths 
of lions." 

Human nature loves to be trusted. God insists upon being 
trusted. It is sweeter to be trusted than to be loved, though 
both usually go together. 

It is duty to trust God though you can not trace Him. Look 
to the bow in the cloud when you can not discover His face in 
the blackness of the cloud itself. 

"How calmly," says Richter, "may we commit ourselves 
to the hands of Him who bears up the world." 

"Though He slay me," said Job, "yet will I trust in Him." 
It is better to be slain while trusting than to withhold our 
trust and be slain. 

On His promise I rely. 

Trust in an Almighty Lord ; 
Sure to win the victory , 

For He hath spoke the word, 

84 



-*: 







INNOCENCE AND PROWESS 



Life's Morning Glee 



KINDNESS 

Be kind to thy father! Be kind to thy mother! Be kind to 
thy neighbor, thy sister and brother! 

Kindness is more than poetry. It is the heart of humanity, 
the very life-blood of society, a spirit akin to heaven. 

For the unkind there is no heaven, no love, no tenderness, 
and little respect. 

Kindness is friendship in action, love in demonstration, 
grace in practice, and pure sympathy enshrined. 

Kindness implies natural good will and acquired good habit; 
it is sunshine in the disposition and melting warmth in the 
conduct. 

Kindness is benignity on fire, compassion in normal tone, and 
tenderness in rightful solution. 

Kindness is the language which the blind can read, the deaf 
can hear, the dumb can speak, the lame can walk in, the poor 
can rejoice in, the rich can find pleasure in, and which even 
fools can master. 

No dying man was ever known to lament a kindness, but 
many have expressed regret for their severities. 

Kindness is the errand upon which angels fly; it is the trait 
which moved the heart of God. "His merciful kindness is great 
toward us." 

Kindness is the supreme theme of Israel's poet laureate: 
" I have not concealed Thy loving-kindness." "Thy loving-kind- 
ness is better than life." " I will praise Thy name for Thy loving- 
kindness." 

Kindness is sweet to receive, and sweeter still to give; more- 
over, it is "the honey that blunts the sting of unkindness in 
another." 

Kindness is the cheapest of all things, and yet the most 
valuable. It constitutes what can not be bought with gold, viz: 
a character that ever shines with undimmed luster. 



Every Life A Delight 



THE CHARMING FLOWERS 

Ever since man began his existence on earth the flowers have 
bloomed along his path to charm his eye and fill the air with 
fragrance. 

King Solomon in his highest glory was stirred to call atten- 
tion to "the rose of Sharon" and "the lily of the valley," and 
also to hail the season when "flowers appear on the earth." 

He was even observant enough to note a bride's remark 
about her beloved: "His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet 
flowers; his lips like lilies." 

All this shows that the ancients, like ourselves, appreciated 
bloom and brightness. Had Mrs. Hemans lived when Solomon 
reigned she might have sang for his subjects as she did for us — 

They speak of hope to the fainting heart, 

With a voice of promise they come and part; 

They sleep in dust through the wintry hours; 

They break forth in glory — bring flowers, bright flowers. 

The flowers are of too great variety even to name here, but 
the old favorites always please us. There is the rose, praised by 
both Homer and Hesiod. The wild varieties seem to have 
bloomed everywhere. 

The common' rose was carried from Holland into England 
as long ago as 1522, and the moss rose in 1596. The China and 
Japan roses were introduced there in 1790. 

The yellow rose came from Persia. The damask rose was 
brought from Southern Europe by a physician to Henry VIII. 

Legend says that the rose is a symbol of secrecy. The 
ancients hung it over their banqueting tables to indicate that 
words uttered there were not to be repeated outside, hence the 
expression sub-rosa, under the rose. 

The lily has always been about as much of a favorite as the 
rose. "Consider the lilies." Royalty gloried in the lily. France 
adopted it as her emblematic flower. Gethsemane was aflame 
with it. The story runs that in the presence of the sorrowing 

88 




WILD ROSES 



Life's Morning Glee 



Master, while other flowers were gay, the lilies bowed their 
heads in sympathy, while each little bell was full of penitent 
tears. 

The violet, too, is richly loved. It was Shakespeare's 
favorite — 

Violets dim, 
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes. 

Then there is the daisy, a short word for "day's eye," abound- 
ing with love signs. It is told that " girls pull off the white petals 
of the daisy one by one, saying with the first, 'He loves me,' 
and with the second, ' He loves me not;' and then they think that 
their fate in love will be like the words spoken with the last 
petal." 

The tulip must also be mentioned. It is a native of the 
Levant, and first came into wide notice in 1559. The Europeans 
went wild over it, paying fabulous prices (six thousand dollars 
in one case) for single bulbs. The price was finally limited by 
government action. 

The dahlia can not be ignored. It came from Mexico. 
Humboldt carried it to Europe in 1790. A Swedish botanist 
named Dahl engaged in its cultivation, and the flower took its 
name from him. 

America claims the nativity of another favorite, the 
fuchsia, though it got its name in Europe. A German professor 
named Fuchs visited this country in the sixteenth century and 
took home a plant of this species, which was then and there 
named after him. 

Persia boasts of being the home of the lilac, but Europe has 
known it for at least three hundred years. 

The same little land claims the jessamine, though it was 
taken to England in 1500. The yellow variety was taken from 
India in 1656. 

So much for the flowers, "nature's jewels," "love's truest 
language," "the sweetest things that God ever made and forgot 
to put a soul into." 

Following are a few of the sentiments associated with 



91 



Every Life A Delight 



flowers: Roses, white and red together, unity; yellow rose, 
jealousy; cabbage rose, ambassador of love; white rose, "I am 
worthy of you;" pansy, thoughts, "you occupy my thought;" 
sweet peas, departure; red tulip, declaration of love; yellow 
tulip, hopeless love; blue violet, faithfulness; white violet, 
modesty, innocence; forget-me-not, true love; red or pink 
geranium, preference; ivy, friendship, fidelity; lily of the 
valley, return of happiness, unconscious sweetness; apple blos- 
som, preference; buttercup, ingratitude, childishness; four- 
leaved clover, be mine; white daisy, innocence; daffodil, chiv- 
alry; white chrysanthemum, truth; yellow chrysanthemum, 
slighted love; scarlet geranium, comforting; heliotrope, devo- 
tion, faithfulness; purple lilac, first emotions of love; marigold, 
grief; red poppy, consolation; evening primrose, inconstancy; 
early primrose, youth and sadness; white rosebud, girlhood; 
snowdrop, hope, consolation; water lily, purity of heart. 



BOYS AND TOYS 

Boys can not be made too happy nor too well satisfied with 
life. Good affections grow in the sunshine of warm encourage- 
ment. 

The boy is father of the man. As the boy starts, as a rule, 
so will the man turn out. 

The play of the boy is the beginning of many an industry. 
That little fellow absorbed with his toy-boat will make a great 
ship-builder yet. I like the looks of him. He is a poor man's 
son and has no purchased toys; but he has a good mind, is well- 
behaved, and skillful enough to make his own toys. 

Boys do well who make their own wagons, sleds, and ships. 
The toys they buy may look prettier, but those they make help 
to develop their skill. 

Boys who make their own toys are very apt in after years to 
make their own fortunes. 

The happiest boy I ever knew was one who had found a 
pair of old rusty skate-blades, and, with a broken saw, jack- 

92 



Life's Morning Glee 



knife, and hand-gimlet as his only utensils, had set the blades 
in rude oak foot-pieces, attached some straps and buckles, and, 
fastening the skates to his feet, went sailing over the glare ice 
of the lake near his father's home. 

Give the boys a good chance, teach them to work as well as 
play, do n't curb them except as to positive vice, direct them 
in their best tendencies, and the men of the next generation are 
almost sure to be quite as good citizens and as capable members 
of society as those of the present time. 



rt^P'M^^ffP 




AN ABSORBING PASTIME 




full armed for uhrisimas 



HOLIDAY OF THE HEART 



Greeting to Christmas, 

Beautiful scene! 
Crown it with holly 

And evergreen! 
Light up the candles, 

Hang up the balls, 
Fasten the ribbons, 

Tie on the dolls. 
Call in the children, 

Ask them to share 



Everything playful, 

Jubilant, rare. 
This is the season 

Brightest and best, 
Happiest, holiest, 

Fullest of zest. 
Welcome to Christmc 

Relish its art! 
Crown it the holiday 

Dear to the heart! 



94 




MERRY CHRISTMAS" 



OLD SANTA 

'T is Christmas eve. Good-night ! Good-night ! 

Old Santa roams the earth to-night. 

His gentle tread no ear may hear. 

His burly form no child should fear. 

His jingling bells should soothe our rest 

As off he goes, now East, now West. 

He finds the dreamers, misses none, 

And fills their stockings, every one. 

'T is Christmas morn ! Awake ! Awake ! 
The slumber from thine eyelids shake! 
Old Santa with his bounteous store 
Has satisfied thy wish and more! 
Aha! Aha! What beaming eyes! 
What wonder vast! What sweet surprise! 
No such delight through all the year 
As comes with Santa's Christmas cheer. 



95 




"NOW, WE'LL CATCH SANTA" 



CATCHING SANTA 

Now we '11 catch Santa — he surely is here ; 
They said that ere morning he could but appear; 
So while we were sleeping, with whiskers of gray, 
He must have come in here with reindeer and sleigh. 

I wonder where is he, and why is he still? 
On sight I will ask him to speak if he will. 
Now hurry! we'll catch him in that room or this! 
O, won't it be jolly to give him a kiss! 

Why do we not find him? Perhaps it's too late; 
I thought I heard some one go out at the gate. 
We'll go to bed longer, and sleep if we can; 
Like enough we shall dream 01 the Santa Claus man. 



96 




JUNE ROSES 

SUNSHINE AT THE DOOR 

Winter's cold and Spring are o'er; 
Roses blooming at the door; 
Laughing sunshine streaming in; 
Children drinking health again. 
97 



Every Life A Delight 



Pluck the roses while they last, 
While their fragrance sweet they cast. 
Catch the sunshine while you may, 
Blessing our dear home to-day. 

Flowers and children, both in bloom, 
Bringing gladness, chasing gloom! 
O, the children! O, the flowers! 
O, what happy hearts are ours! 



PRESENCE OF MIND 

To acquire presence of mind in time of danger is a secret of 
life enrichment. Not to lose the wits, not to be so flurried as to 
forget what to do, or to proceed to do the wrong thing, is an 
accomplishment of rare value. 

Persons who are calm and thoughtful even in the presence 
of death are the ones who achieve results which are gratifying 
to memory. 

A Boston lady whose husband was afflicted with nightmare 
was one night awakened by a noise, and to her horror saw her 
husband sitting up in bed saying in a whisper, "Now I have 
him; he can't escape!" and pointing his pistol at an imaginary 
burglar. His finger was on the trigger, and he was aiming 
directly at the head of the baby in the cradle. 

Quick as lightning, but in a low tone, his wife said, "Too 
low! Aim higher!" He raised the pistol, she snatched it from 
his hand, and the danger was over. Was n't that a feat worth 
while? 

Several years ago, in the city of New York, a manufacturing 
establishment where several hundred employees of all ages were 
busily engaged was discovered by a boy of twelve to be in 
flames. Instead of yelling fire, as an excitable nature would have 
done, the boy went to the foreman and whispered to him his 
discovery. In five minutes the working people were dismissed, 

98 



Life's Morning Glee 



and it was not until they had reached the street that they 
learned from what peril they had escaped. A panic under the 
conditions of those days would inevitably have resulted in great 
loss of life. 

Self-control is an admirable quality, find it when and where 
you may. Sometimes it saves life, sometimes it exhibits a 
picture of courage ever beautiful to look upon. 

In a Connecticut factory a boy, aged ten, was caught by the 
hand in the belt of a revolving wheel. The machinery was 
stopped, but the boy's hand and arm were terribly mutilated. 
During the number of minutes required to loosen the strap the 
little fellow hung suspended by the torn arm. Yet he uttered 
no outcry, only speaking to say again and again: "Don't 
worry, father! Do n't worry! It will all be right in a minute." 
What man would n't be proud to be the father of such a boy 
as that? 



WORDS THAT WIN 

Words express thoughts. Sometimes they express more, or 
less, than the speaker intends. They need to be carefully 
chosen. 

Bad words have wrought more havoc than battle, murder, 
and sudden death. They trickle through the ear and brain 
into the heart, causing moral cancers, malignant ulcers, and 
other incurable maladies. They are more potent for harm 
than plagues and pestilence. 

There are words which sting deeper than swords and bayo- 
nets can pierce, which cut out hearts quicker than a butcher's 
knife, which burn and poison as the}' accomplish their deadly 
work. 

No infernal machine is more dangerous than "the last 
word." One would better fight for the possession of a lighted 
bomb-shell than to insist upon it. It has separated more mar- 
ried people than crime and disease put together. 

99 



Every Life A Delight 



Good words are like sunbeams in the springtime. They 
thaw the ice and snow, draw out the frost, warm up the people, 
and make them doff their heavy raiment. They usher in the 
summer. They win the rich harvests. 

All words should be winning words, full of sunshine and 
warmth, shedding benedictions like showers upon the mead, 
causing growth and blossoming and fruitage. Harsh speeches 
are like March winds — they send the shivers up the back, cause 
doors to close, create irritations, retard development, and balk 
the natural order of things. 

Give us the words that win, that are wings of good action; 
soft words that turn away wrath; wise words that none can 
gainsay; pleasing words that engender smiles; apt words that 
calm tumults, heal wounds, cure melancholy, and set the blood 
to bounding in channels of thrift, progress, and delight. 

Speak not many words, lest you repel and confuse. Speak 
strong and bright words that win respect, dispel the haze and 
clear the whole atmosphere. Life has no study more urgent 
and important than the use of words. 

Winning words woo the world. 



WORDS THAT REPEL 

Except the brain, the tongue is the best part of a man's 
body, and yet it may become the worst. 

The hand can kindle literal fire, but the tongue can stir the 
fire of hell. 

"The tongue is but three inches long, yet it can kill a man 
six feet high." 

The word of a judge, or king, may deprive a man of life. 
Those little words, "Yes" or "No," may send big armies to 
battle. 

100 



Life's Morning Glee 



The tongue is mastered only by the brain, and it often re- 
quires the biggest kind of a fight for the latter to win. 

The tongue may be profane, and George Washington said 
that profanity is so contemptible that no gentleman is ever 
guilty of it. 

The tongue can be obscene, and General *Grant once checked 
the narrator of a foul story by reminding him that gentlemen 
were present. 

The tongue can bear false witness, and all the great and good 
men of earth condemn that. The lying accuser has no friend. 

Here are rules for keeping the tongue in check: 

1. Think to yourself before you speak to others. 

2. Speak of things, not persons, unless in kindness. 

3. Shrink from contact with evil speakers. You can find 
better associates. 

4. Recall at night any bad utterances of the day, and vow 
to do better the next day. 

5. Impose a fine upon yourself for slips of the tongue. 
Give the money to some newsboy or a worthy person in need. 
The cure will soon bo complete. 



GOOD RESOLUTIONS 

Except good deeds, there is no better crop to sow than good 
resolutions. They may not all yield a harvest, but those that 
do may pay well. 

To a certain extent, one can be as good as he resolves to be, 
for "a good intention clothes itself with power." 

To determine upon a good thing is a help toward achieving 
it. Pride stimulates one to the best endeavor. Xo one likes to 

101 



Every Life A Delight 



fail, and none will fail who says, with Sir Philip Sidney, "Either 
I will find a way, or I will make one." 

Good resolutions are supposed to belong to New Year Day, 
but they are better on the last day of the year than not at all. 

They are also better when, from experience, they are found 
needful. If a good resolution is broken, the next best one is to 
resolve to mend the break. This calls for strengthened purpose. 

Here are a few resolutions written by an irascible person for 
guidance in home life: 

1. I will not be provoking if I know it. 

2. I will not be provoked if I can help it. 

3. I will not be petty, fussy, nor sensitive. 

4. I will heed advice when good, and give it when asked for. 

5. I will not insist on my own way when another may be as 
good, or better. 

6. If I make a mistake, I will try to profit by it while keep- 
ing it to myself. 

7. I will keep my nerves in the best possible shape, and 
avoid peevishness and anger. 

8. On a hot topic, having said what I must, I will drop it, 
and will not play with fire. 

9. If I get hurt, I will not show the wound to everybody, 
lest taking off the bandage make it worse. I will let it heal. 

10. When I find myself in error or wrong, I will get out of it 
by the shortest possible route ; and when I reach the next fork 
in the road, I will make sure that I am right, then go ahead. 



102 




A POLITE HOSTESS 



A RICH REPAST 

Supper is ready now; I '11 pour the tea. 
Dolly is seated so nicely by me. 
I'll be the mistress tall, you be the guest; 
Talking and eating, too, each do his best. 

You call it practicing; I call it real; 
Old people never know how children feel. 
Never can living babe my dolly beat; 
Never was grown-up's food better to eat. 

On with the feasting, please; fill up your cup: 
Open your lips again, now have a sup! 
There, supper's over now; poured is the tea, 
Dolly is tired out, waiting for me. 
103 



Every Life A Delight 



NATURE'S BEAUTIES 

And this our life, exempt from public haunt, 
Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks, 
Sermons in stones, and good in everything. 

To enjoy Nature one must have an eye to her beauty, an 
ear open to her music, and a soul alive to her glories. 

"To an attentive eye," says Emerson, "each moment of 
the year has its own beauty; and in the same field it beholds 
every hour a picture that was never seen before, and shall never 
be seen again. The heavens change every moment and reflect 
their glory or gloom on the plains beneath." 

We may not each have the eye of an Emerson, but to most 
of us Nature is alive with charms, and this spirit is growing upon 
us more and more. 

How delightful is the early summer when the trees are in 
new leaf, the flowers blooming, the air full of scent, and sound, 
and sunshine, and the song of birds is filling the woods with 
native melody! 

How we love to see the meadows sprout, the wheat fields flash 
their emerald, the lawns take on their velvety hue, the buds 
open, the bees hum their joy, the farmer alive to the sowing, 
and all Nature arrayed in resurrection dress! 

The richness of life in America is wonderful. The summer- 
time is the heaven of the year. The roar of lake or ocean is an 
invitation to her friendly shores. The rivers run to meet us 
and give welcome to their cottage-dotted banks. We long for 
the rest and zest of summer homes and the simple life. Not 
that we dislike the cities, for they teem with historical interest 
and busy engagements; but we like in turn the open air, the 
wider view, the novel association, and the pleasant relaxation. 

The meanest floweret of the vale, 
The simplest note that swells the gale, 
The common sun, the air, the skies, 
To us are opening paradise. 

104 




DRESSED IN BEAUTY 



Life's Morning Glee 



It is said that many savage nations worship trees; and little 
wonder, for who has not felt the mystery and majesty of the 
forest, the might of the giant oak or elm or pine, and the seeming 
disposition of the smaller trees and clinging vines to whisper 
to us and tell us of their delight in our presence and their ap- 
preciation of our love for their beauty? 

Most of us probably feel, with JefTeries, that "By day or 
by night, summer or winter, beneath trees the heart feels nearer 
to that depth of life which the far sky means. The rest of 
spirit found only in beauty, ideal and pure, comes there because 
the distance seems within touch of thought." 

Water adds its enlivenment to woods, and both are neces- 
sary to complete a pretty landscape, while fleecy clouds over- 
head in sky serene add beauty to the artistic glow. 

How many of us realize the impressive power of color, not so 
much the flashing, brilliant hues as the modified tones — the dull 
gray, the pale blue, the rich brown, the deep green — as seen in 
the average nature sketch! It is as if Nature and God intended 
that we should be literally charmed into rest and soothed into 
slumber whenever, as in our summer-time, we put of! our stren- 
uous cares and draw near to Nature's heart. 

And, adding to this tendency to find rest, mingled with de- 
light is the habit Nature has of putting on her most gorgeous 
robes at the setting of the sun and the coming of the night. 
The orb of day is a blaze of glory now. The low-hanging clouds 
are flakes of scarlet fringed with gold. The shifting view tarries 
but a moment, but its impression lasts for a lifetime. 

"How glorious the firmament 
With living sapphires! Hesperus that led 
The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon 
Rising in clouded majesty, at length 
Apparent queen, unveiled her peerless light, 
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw." 



107 





EXPECTATION 



REALIZATION 



A TWOFOLD JOY 

A lot of pleasure can be found 
In just expecting something nice, 

And then, when it has come around, 
'T is quite like drinking pleasure twice. 

Anticipating is a boon, 

While realizing quite beguiles; 

The former puts the heart in tune, 
The latter wreathes the face in smiles. 



108 




"THE LAUGH IS IN HIM" 



THE TICKLED BOY 

Of all delighted folks on earth, 

Give me the tickled boy; 
His face reflects the heart of mirth, 

His laugh is bubbling joy. 
No horse's laugh rings from his throat, 

His is the genuine quill ; 
His giggle on the air doth float 

Like splash of rippling rill. 

The laugh is in him. He is it, 

A bunch of compressed glee; 
While laughing he no more can quit 

Than water quit the sea. 
Nor do we wish it. Gold is gold ; 

There is no purer joy 
Than such as his two sides doth hold, 

That selfsame tickled boy. 



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Every Life A Delight 



THE COMPANIONSHIP OF BOOKS 

Books are friends; silent, it is true, yet faithful, and always 
at hand for service. 

All round the room my silent servants wait, 
My friends in every season, bright and dim, 

Angels and Seraphim 
Come down and murmur to me, sweet and low, 
And spirits of the skies all come and go 

Early and late. 

The only trouble with books as friends is that the crowd of 
them has become very great. Careful discrimination is neces- 
sary in order to secure the best. 

Books of the right quality are a guide in youth and an enter- 
tainment in age. They cheer us when alone, and support us when 
dreary. 

O for a booke and a shady nooke, 

Eyther in doore or out, 

With the grene leaves whispering overhead 

Or the streete cryes all about ; 

Where I maie reade all at my ease, 

Both of the newe and old ; 

For a jolly goode booke whereon to looke 

Is better to me than golde. 

— Old English Song. 

Books are for loving. Everything follows in the wake of 
love. When Henry Ward Beecher was asked why he bought a 
farm up the Hudson, he replied, "To lie down on." He loved 
the out-of-doors, and his reply was characteristic and unmis- 
takable. His first relation to his farm was one of happiness. 
To pat the neck of a horse or to fondle a book means to have 
arrived on a plateau of love, and the goal of achievement is 
near, whether it be horsemanship or literature. The only key 
to the treasures of literature is unfeigned love. 

Some books are to be tasted, others to be chewed and di- 
gested. None can be always enjoyed, for we are not always 

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Life's Morning Glee 



book-hungry. Books, like living friends, have their own times 
and seasons. 

One nice feature of books is that they are never asleep and 
never otherwise engaged. Approach them when you will, in- 
terrogate them as you please, they will conceal nothing, never 
show impatience, never laugh at your ignorance, nor refuse you 
any instruction they can give. 

"He that loveth a book will never want a faithful friend, a 
wholesome counselor, a cheerful companion, an effectual com- 
forter. By study, by reading, by thinking, one may innocently 
divert and pleasantly entertain himself; as in all weathers, so 
in all fortunes." 

Books are like friends in another way: if first-class, they can 
not last too long; if worthless, you can not get rid of them too 
soon. 




THE LIBRARY CORNER 




READING BY FIRELIGHT 



A BOY'S LIBERTY 

Down on the parlor rug, close by the fire, 
Glancing at picture books I never tire; 
Old folks may talk away, let me be still, 
Or let me caper and play as I will. 

Childhood will pass away, now be it mine; 
Evening my holiday, sundown till nine; 
Knowing no weariness, aching, or smart, 
Facing the fire-glow, light in my heart. 



112 




AH KNOWS YOU WOULD N'T STEAL 



DAT WATERMILLION 

Whar yo get dat watermillion, little nigger Sam? 

Whar yo bin a foragin' my blessed black-sheep lam'? 

Ah spects yo buy'd it, dough, all right — ah knows yo would n't 

steal ; 
Ah's glad yo got it hones'ly — how T proud it makes ma feel! 

Dat is a good big million, too; jus' han' it here to me; 
Dere'll be a slice for ebery one, an' mebbe two or three; 
Dat watermillion 's worth a lot — we'll hab a mighty feast; 
'T will fill us up and save de meal, a poun' or two, at least. 

Ah tinks dese millions would n't grow if colo'd folks was gone — 
Dey 're low-down truck, and nary good to keep de white trash on ; 
Dey grows for dem what tinks dem nice, and dat is such as we; 
Ah'd like to eat 'em all de time, if dey was ripe and free. 

So, Sam, go get annodder one jus' whar yo gadered dis, 
An pay dem well and tell 'em, too, it gibs yo daddie bliss; 
Ah specs yo'll bring one ebery morn before de sun has ris'n, 
An keep de owner's pocket-book wid hones' coin a siz'n. 



113 



Every Life A Delight 



LIFE'S TRUE WINE 

To taste of joy without alloy 

Is real sweet; 
Full joy to gain without a pain 

Is rarer treat; 
To realize a wish full size 

Is mental food ; 
To capture bliss without a miss 

Speaks aptitude; 
To store the mind with feeling kind 

Is solid sense; 
To plan a gift, or helpful lift, 

Has recompense; 
To draw the heart from vice apart 

Is worth a mine; 
To strike a gait in living straight 

Is life's true wine. 



114 




DAY DREAMING 



PART THIRD 
HAPPY INSPIRATIONS 



Man spends his cash good times to find — 

He travels far and near; 
To overlook, he is inclined, 

Good times at home, I fear. 
Good times are ours here and now; 

Let us appreciate! 
To seize upon them let us vow, 

And keep them at our gate. 



Happy Inspirations 



HAPPINESS 




None He 



Thou askest, "What is happiness?" 

I will tell thee. 

Happiness is sunshine of the heart; 

It is the soul's illumination, the light 

That flashes from the radiant throne 

Of all Eternal Good. It is 

The atmosphere of angels blest; 

A beam of heavenly radiance lent 

To our poor darkened earth. 
F Happiness is inward sweetness rare. 

^^k It is the flower of love distilled. 

'T is friendship in its highest cast. 

'T is faith and hope and real worth combined. 
'T is what we want, and now might have, 
And sometimes taste, and wish for more. 
'T is self at best, and self in growth, 
In warmth and wisdom and serene success. 

Happiness is what we mean to be. 
We see the picture painted on the sky. 
It glows in pigments mixed by grace 
And spread in rainbow hues, 
By spirits ministering to our needs 
And urging to perfection in 
The art of going on. 

Happiness is contentment in our place. 
It is discovered geniality. It is peace 
In action and in work performed. It is 
Preparation for a higher round 
Of effort in a proven sphere. It is 
A mission undertaken and, in measure, 
Proceeding to its crown. 

And is there more? If so, 
I seize it all and calmly use it well 
As seasoning in the sweetened cup 
Of earthly bliss attained. 
119 



Every Life A Delight 



SECRETS OF HAPPINESS 

In seeking any kind of pleasure, remember there are limita- 
tions to all things, even the capacity for happiness. 

God made all men for happiness, but not for that alone; 
there is a happiness of duty as well as a duty of happiness. 

"The greatest good of the greatest number" is a very good 
life motto; but those who will not accept it should at least 
contribute in some degree to the happiness of others. 

Some think we should not seek happiness at all, but simply 
well being; then real happiness is sure to be the sequel. 

If the pleasures of life are allowed to rule, they are very 
likely sooner or later to hand us over to sorrow ; a better plan is 
to live nobly and let joys come as they will. 

Few people seem to realize what a wonderful privilege it is 
to live at all, enjoying as we do so many good things — the 
beauties and glories of the Universe, the privilege of making 
ourselves all that we wish to be, and the power to rise superior 
to difficulty, pain, and grief, securing peace and plenty in bound- 
less measure. 

St. Bernard uncovered a secret when he observed, "Nothing 
can work me damage except myself; the harm that I sustain I 
carry about with me, and never am a real sufferer but by my 
own fault." 

A man is his own star, 
Our acts our angels are, 
For good or ill. 

Much of what people call evil is good in disguise; all that 
they need to do is to turn it to account and make the best of it. 
Thus pain is a warning of danger. Grief may prove a tonic to 
strength. To use all things wisely is man's most valuable 
treasure. 

A human being does not really need much. He that is not 
content with little is content with nothing. Seneca said that 
more than we use is more than we need, and only a burden to 
the bearer. 

120 



Happy Inspirations 



HOME, SWEET HOME 

One stormy evening in October, in the reign of King Louis 
of France, about seven years after Napoleon had been defeated 
at Waterloo, a penniless young American was wandering about 
in the streets of Paris looking for a night's lodging. His name 
was John Howard Payne. 

In the gay French capital just at that time there was preju- 
dice against Englishmen on account of the Wellington victory, 
and also some antipathy against Americans because they spoke 
only the English language. 

This friendless young American, footsore and hungry, who 
had just lost his situation as a play-actor in Drury Lane Theater, 
London, had been for hours seeking employment in Paris, look- 
ing upon its palaces and pleasures, and reminded by frequent 
rebuffs of his helplessness and loneliness, began to think of his 
childhood and the sweetness of his boyhood life. 

At length, passing by a humble dwelling, he chanced to dis- 
cern through the window the outline of a warm home scene — a 
father, mother, and children sitting in the lamp-light, happy in 
each other's love. 

"Ah!" said the poor actor, with tears in his eyes, "there's 
no place like home!" and the words repeated themselves in his 
mind again and again. 

Suddenly remembering that on another street an English 
theater manager was quartered temporarily while seeking new 
plays, he sought him out, all the time repeating in song-like tone 
the refrain, "There's no place like home." 

By the time he reached the manager's room the refrain had 
become a finished melody, and the outcast was chanting to him- 
self, though yet in lude form, the wonderful words which were 
soon destined to stir the world. 

'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, 
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home; 
A charm from the sky seems to carry us there, 
Which, seek through the world, is not met with elsewhere 
Home! Home! sweet, sweet home! 

There's no place like home, there's no place like home. 
121 



Every Life A Delight 



An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain; 

O, give me my lowly thatched cottage again; 

The birds singing gayly that came at my call — 

Give me them with the peace of mind dearer than all. 

Home! Home! sweet, sweet home! 

There's no place like home, there's no place like home! 

Persons of sense, such as Mr. Payne was, know a good thing 
when they find it, and the destitute young actor realized that 
out of his dreary experience he had hatched a bit of music and 
sentiment which would redound to his account. 

He soon conceived the idea of a play, "Clari, the Maid of 
Milan," and incorporated his song in it. The piece was pro- 
duced at Covent Garden Theater in 1823, with music by Sir 
Henry Bishop. 

Few stage successes have ever been greater. Payne received 
SI, 250 for it, and three hundred thousand copies of "Home, 
Sweet Home" were sold within a year. 

Yet Payne never found a home for himself. He was born in 
a little cottage on the outskirts of New York in 1791, went to 
London at the age of twenty-one, produced his song at the age 
of thirty- two, continued his wanderings over the earth until 
the age of sixty-one, and died at Tunis, North Africa, in 1852. 
For several years he had been serving as United States consul in 
that city, so that even in death he was an " exile from home." 

In 1882 a philanthropist of Washington, the late W. W. 
Corcoran, had the poet's body removed to the capital of the 
United States, believing this to be the proper place for the 
remains of the author of "Home, Sweet Home." 

In 1883 a monument was erected to his memory. 

The inscriptions on the shaft are simple. The front bears the 
name, dates of birth and death, etc. On the reverse side is 
carved the following quatrain: 

Sure, when thy gentle spirit fled 

To realms beyond the azure dome, 
With arms outstretched, God's angel said, 

"Welcome to Heaven's 'Home, Sweet Home.'" 



122 




THE OLD WELL 



THE OLD WELL 

I want a drink from the dear old well 
And of its valued service tell. 



The well was deep and curbed with stone, 
And tapped a fountain all its own ; 
It never failed, though streams went dry, 
To quench the thirst of passersby. 
The children came from near and far, 
By morning light and evening star, 
With pails and pitchers queer and old 
To bear away the water cold. 

125 



Every Life A Delight 



The right to draw was ne'er refused, 
Nor was that right by one misused. 
Through long decades the dear old well 
Maintained its virtues sweet to tell. 

I wonder now, since far I 've strolled, 
Could I but quaff those waters cold 
And hear the windlass, greased with soap, 
Wind up the rust-browned chain and rope. 
Would greetings be the same as then? 
Would voices sound the same as when 
Those boys and girls from far and near 
Drew up the water cold and clear? 

Would they? Well, yes, they would, I think; 
At any rate, I want that drink. 



THE HAPPIEST THOUGHT 

What is the happiest thought you ever knew? 

When was the sweetest breath you ever drew? 
Was it in your babyhood, 
When, as every baby should, 
You saw your mother bending o'er, 
As often she had done before, 
And recognized her loving smile, 
Returning it in baby style, 
And heard her gleefully exclaim, 
As tenderly she spoke your name, 
"O, baby laughed; dear baby laughed!" 
While from your neck she kisses quaffed? 

Was that the happiest thought you ever knew? 

Was that the sweetest breath you ever drew? 
126 



Happy Inspirations 



Or was your thought much happier later on, 

The moment sweeter far than any gone, 
When, in your bright maturity, 
With vowed and pledged security, 
You called your loved one then your own, 
A king or queen upon the throne 
Of wedded bliss; no more to pait, 
But each the other's hand and heart? 
O union sweet! O bond divine! 
O light of God on thee and thine ! 
What benedictions breathed by friend ! 
What promised rapture without end ! 

Was that the happiest thought you ever knew? 

Was then the sweetest breath you ever drew? 

Or have you now the happiest thought of all? 
And is your present breath the sweetest you recall? 

Have you attained amenity, 

A satisfied serenity, 

Of aim and wish and hope fulfilled, 

The goal of all you ever willed? 

Are prospects good for calm old age, 

With plentitude for every stage? 

Are friends around you warm and true? 

Upholding you in what you do? 

Abounding, buoyant, glorious life, 

Complacence-filled and free from strife? 
This happiest thought to you I would bequeath; 
This sweetest breath this moment yours to breathe. 



127 



Every Life A Delight 



DELIGHT AT HOME 

Home should be a place of supreme delight. It is there we 
spend most of our time; it is there we refresh ourselves with 
food and rest ; it is there we find the endless varieties of pleasure 
known to earth; it is there that the most holy joy of humanity, 
that of parents in their children, becomes a sweet realization. 
Nature multiplies the delights of home. The recurrence of the 
seasons — spring, summer, autumn, winter — gives unceasing 
variations in landscape views, foliage tints, climatic changes, 
and domestic activities, so that the dwellers at home have a 
taste, if not a satiety, in all that is beautiful, wholesome, and 
entertaining in the round of the years. 

The great sun, too, in his daily round, furnishes a succession 
of delightful views in never-ending variety. As Ruskin says: 
"There is not a moment of any day of our lives when Nature 
is not producing scene after scene, picture after picture, glory 
after glory, and working still upon such exquisite and constant 
principles of the most perfect beauty, that it is quite certain it 
is all done for us, and intended for our perpetual pleasure." 

Nor does beauty end with the day. Night has its own 
attractions — the silvery moon, the twinkling stars, the silent 
air, the dewy freshness without, and the cheery atmosphere, 
brilliant illumination, and glowing warmth within, all tending, 
as the hours of evening pass and the need of rest is felt, to make 
us repeat the refrain, as true as it is old, "There is no place 
like home." 

Outside fall the snowfiakes lightly; 

Through the night loud raves the storm; 
In my room the fire glows brightly, 

And 't is cozy, silent, warm. 

And this leads to say that the chief delights of home are 
within its doors, where the old family clock is ticking off the 

128 



Happy Inspirations 



hours and the loved children are engaging in their pastimes of 
games, music, conversation, or silent reverie. 

Sweet is the smile of home, the mutual look, 

When hearts are of each other sure; 
Sweet all the joys that crowd the household nook, 

The haunt of all affections pure. 



BEAUTY IN SONG 

A beautiful spirit was Jenny Lind, once the star vocalist of 
the world. She was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and from 
earliest infancy charmed people with her song. 

When ten years old she sang upon the public stage. 

At the age of twelve her voice became harsh, probably from 
over-use, and for four years she remained in obscurity; then 
suddenly she appeared again upon the stage with a voice of 
greater purity and volume than before. 

At the age of twenty-three she sang at the opening of the 
Opera House, Berlin, and from that time forth her fame was as 
wide as the world. She visited Vienna, Paris, London, and other 
great cities of Europe, exciting the wildest sensation wherever 
her voice was heard. 

In September, 1850, she came to America. New York first 
paid her tribute. Tickets for her concert were put up at auction, 
and the choice for the best seat sold for several hundred dollars. 
The total proceeds amounted to ten thousand dollars, and she 
gave her share of it to charitable causes. 

In every other city she visited she awakened similar en- 
thusiasm. At Wheeling, W. Va., she created a furore. The 
people hung about her hotel and thronged the halls in the hope 
of catching even the remotest strain of her voice. Among these 
were two hard-working men who pressed near the door of her 
room, which was not locked; and one of them, in placing his 
ear close to the key-hole, accidently opened the door and fell 
sprawling in to Jenny Lind's presence. 

131 



Every Life A Delight 



The songster was sitting at the piano, and lifted her eyes 
quickly in astonishment. Displeasure gathered upon her 
features. But the intruder, being quick of tongue, sprang to 
his feet, begged pardon, and made explanation. She smiled, 
and being convinced that mere admiration had gotten him into 
the dilemma, she invited him and his comrade to come in and 
be seated. She would sing for them. And she did. Expressions 
of thanks followed, and great was the sensation created in the 
city by the event. 

There is a stage-driver's story of Jenny Lind which speaks 
the beauty of her heart. She was riding in the country when a 
bird of brilliant plumage perched on a wayside tree began to 
ti ill out such a complication of sweet notes as astonished her. 

She stopped the coach, and reaching out, gave one of her 
finest roulades. The beautiful creature arched his head on one 
side, and listened deferentially; then, as if to excel his famous 
rival, raised his graceful throat and poured forth a song of 
rippling melody that made Jenny clap her hands in ecstasy, and 
quickly, as if before a critical audience in Castle Garden, she 
gave some Tyrolean mountain strains that set the echoes flying, 
whereupon little birdie took it up and sang and trilled till Jenny, 
in rapturous delight, acknowledged that the pretty woodland 
warbler had decidedly outcaroled the Swedish nightingale. 



DEVOTEDNESS 

I like that word, devotedness, an earnest, fervid flame, 
And fitly it applies to her whose praises I proclaim ; 
She always thinks of other folk, and never tires out 
In doing all she can to bring their happiness about. 

A party here, a meeting there, a dainty note or word, 
Keep all her myriad of friends by pleasant feeling stirred ; 
They're very much attached to her, and she in turn to them 
Were anybody crowned' their queen, she'd get the diadem. 

132 




I LIKE THAT WORD, DEVOTEDNESS, BECAUSE IT 
MIRRORS HER" 



Happy Inspirations 



The proofs of her devotedness have long been manifest; 
The witnesses are all around in neighbor, friend, and guest; 
The evidence is tangible, substantial, too, and clear, 
That she a special mission serves in fostering good cheer. 

A consecrated soul is she, her purpose is to bless; 
Her zeal is always laudable — as warm as yours, I guess; 
No one has ever said of her, She fails in action true, 
Nor in fidelity to those whose joy she keeps in view. 

I like that word, devotedness, because it mirrors her; 
It speaks her loving thoughtfulness, her constant social stir; 
She thinks of you, and me sometimes, and never tires out 
In doing all she can to bring our happiness about. 



SOLID COMFORT 

I asked a man to tell me true what solid comfort is, 

Explaining it in other lives, and seeking it in his. 

He answered quick, with knowing wink, "I've thought the 

subject o'er; 
'T is having what you long have wished, and going after more." 

I asked another his idea, a sober sort of man; 
Reputed to be logical — one of the teaching clan. 
He spoke in intellectual tone, and with a beaming eye, 
"T is getting at the root of things, to know the reason why." 

Interrogating in his turn an officer of law, 

Quite practical, and not disposed to raise a man of straw. 

His candid words came home with force } he spoke with honest 

face — 
"'Tis doing as you ought to do, and staying in your place." 

135 



Every Life A Delight 



Not weary yet, I opened fire upon a stranger near; 
He had a pleasant bearing, and. his countenance was clear. 
His brief reply impressed me much, as kindly look he cast — 
' 'T is being all you should be and improving very fast." 

Then next I quizzed a man well known, and well-to-do, they 
said; 

He'd won success, gained wisdom, too, and bore a level head. 

His answer came in lively strain, with knowledge fresh im- 
bued — 
"T is giving oft to those in need, and feeling gratitude." 

At length a woman's reason I demurely sought to gain, 
And with a woman's readiness she answered clear and sane: 
"My solid comfort is to see my home in order placed; 
My husband and my children, too, with worthy honors 
graced." 

Which of these notions crowns the list is not for me to find ; 
A hundred others might be had, each excellent in kind; 
But as for me, let comfort come in occupation's glow, 
And in a close communion with the dearest heart I know. 



THOUGHTFULNESS 

Refreshing in the fuss and whirl 
Of social life with blue and pink 

To find one plain, good-natured girl 
Who seldom says, "I did n't think!" 

Refreshing to be served by her 

In common round of food and drink, 

And never once hear her refer 

To this excuse, "I did n't think!" 

136 




IN THOUGHTFUL MOOD 



Happy Inspirations 



In serious life, supreme affairs, 
She causes not one heart to sink 

By saying, "Under stress of cares 
I did not and I could not think!" 

No one e'er finds her off her guard ; 

No one can say, with knowing wink, 
"It's bad; it's sad; it's very hard; 

But then, you know, she did n't think! 

Put down my word, in her bright brain 
You will not find a missing link 

To prompt that old and worn refrain — 
"I'm sorry, but I did n't think!" 



RECREATIONS IN SCIENCE 

All sciences are not exact, but all are interesting; and the 
study of them tends to enrich life. 

Astronomy is, perhaps, the only exact science, and certainly 
its exactness is a marvelous thing. 

Think of determining to a mile the distance of the sun or 
moon or planets or fixed stars from this our earth! 

Think of predicting to a second the time of an eclipse, solar 
or lunar, and of foretelling hundreds of years ahead the moment 
when a comet will again swing its fiery tail within the range of 
human vision! 

The science which does these things is sublime, and there 
are other sciences which unfold to us facts of equal interest. 

No science is dry, difficult, or prosaic when undertaken by a 
mind adapted to it, and in the right spirit; though, of course, 
technical scientific works are supposed to be for experts. 

One great advantage in scientific study is that it not only 
charms us by its wonderful interest, but it directs us in the wise 
conduct of life. It quickens the faculty of observation, the 

139 



Every Life A Delight 



power of generalization, and the mental habit of arranging 
things accurately. 

It leads people to trace the sequence of cause and effect, 
familiarizes them with the best thought, brings them in touch 
with scholarly minds, makes them feel surer of their ground, 
and gives them a broader grasp and insight. 

Next to high moral ideals, the world owes its progress chiefly 
to scientific study. 

Some inventions and discoveries are accidental, but more of 
them are not; and the practical utility of those that are is 
owing in large degree to the persistent application of scientific 
principles. 

Then, viewing life as a great game in which skill and wisdom 
may determine the outcome, how important it is that we know 
the rules, acquire knowledge of the moves, understand the 
advantages to be gained, and prepare ourselves to enjoy the 
triumph. 

As Professor Huxley once said: "Life is a game which has 
been played for untold ages, every man and woman of us being 
one of the two players in a game of his or her own. The chess- 
board is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the uni- 
verse, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. 
The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that 
his play is always fair, just, and patient. But we also know, 
to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake or makes the 
smallest allowance for ignorance. To the man who plays well 
the highest stakes are paid, with the sort of overflowing gener- 
osity which with the strong shows delight in strength. And 
one who plays ill is checkmated — without haste, but without 
remorse." 

Science is of the highest value in overcoming false theories 
as to health and sanitation, the treatment of disease and epi- 
demics, the driving away of superstitions and degrading beliefs, 
and the uplifting of mankind in general intelligence and progress. 
There can be no question that men of science, like the ministers 
of religion, have helped greatly in reforming the world. 

140 




THE LOVE OF PROGRESS 



Happy Inspirations 



Men are too apt to forget how much society is indebted to 
science foi the innumerable benefits it has contributed from 
time immemorial to the little affairs of everyday life. Hap- 
penings which were once considered ominous are now accepted 
as natural. Developments once attributed to witches and re- 
sented to the point of death now awaken no concern or even 
wonder. Things once deemed hurtful as foods are now used 
with impunity and gladness, while other things once esteemed 
are now discarded. 

Medicine is not the uncertain science it once was. Experi- 
mentation upon human beings was once as common as bio- 
logical speculation, but more scientific methods now bring more 
satisfactory results. 

It is true that medical theories diametrically opposed to each 
other are still in vogue, but it is also true that many which were 
once doubtful have now come to be established in popular 
favor, while some practices, like that of bleeding, have been 
almost wholly discarded and driven out. 

Just in proportion as common people take up scientific 
studies, finding recreation in demonstration and investigation, 
will the practical errors which have cursed mankind disappear, 
and safer and saner modes of life be adopted. 

As in the Church an educated laity compels pulpit ef- 
ficiency, so in all other departments of thought and progress a 
wise people will drive the experts and specialists to more ac- 
curate conclusions. 

Happily, the people are studying, and will do so yet more 
in the future. Their reading circles will multiply and enlarge 
until they take in all sciences, all philosophies, and all depart- 
ments of literature. 

What will be the status 01 popular thought in a hundred 
years from now? Would n't you like to live to see? Discoveries 
innumerable, marvelous, and fruitful will be made, and the boy 
at the plow will then know more of science than the old phi- 
losopher now. 



143 




11 



PEACI 



AT PEACE 



Peaceful people live in peace. It is the quarrelsome who 
quarrel. 

Quarrels are no proof of courage. The brave are peaceable 
as long as they can be. 

Peace is man's natural state. War is an after intrusion, and 
a blot on manhood. 

Peace usually reigns where reason rules. Men get insanely 
mad and then fight. 

Blessed is the man who does not fight! Not because he has 
no fight in him, but because he will not let it out. 

Nothing is much easier than to provoke unto wrath, and 
nothing more difficult than to appease wrath once provoked. 

A serious offense once given is hard to take back, and once 
taken, is hard to overcome. 

An enemy once made is not easily transformed into a friend. 
Man has a memory. 

144 



Happy Inspirations 



After offending any one, you may explain and apologize, 
defend your attitude, and even prove that you were right; but 
that offense will rankle, and the trace of it may never be eradi- 
cated. 

A mental hurt is very much like a physical malady, it gets 
into the blood and fiber, and ma}' crop. out any time. 

Better not to offend anybody, least of all the peaceably in- 
clined. Better to eradicate from your own constitution the 
stuff that gives offense, such as envy, avarice, pride, and anger. 

Quit your meanness. Conquer the propensity for conquest, 
and suffer wrong rather than do wrong. 

Don't be ruled by that absurdity, "I will not let anybody- 
run over me!" If you don't run over yourself, no one else is 



likely to try it. 



DIFFIDENCE 



Diffidence is not counted a virtue; sometimes it is a serious 
drawback, and always an embarrassment. 

George Washington was a diffident man. He was brave — he 
could face an enemy; but when required to speak in public, or 
even before a few friends, he trembled like a leaf. 

Once he was thanked in glowing terms for the distinguished 
military- service he had rendered his country, but on rising to 
acknowledge the tribute, he was so disconcerted as to be unable 
to articulate a word distinctly. The gentleman presiding re- 
lieved him of his embarrassment by saying: 

"Sit down, Mr. Washington; your modesty equals your 
valor, and that surpasses the power of any language that I 
possess." 

When john Adams hinted that Washington should be pro- 
moted to be a general, and began to recite his praises, Washing- 
ton showed his diffidence by darting into another room. 

When inaugurated as President of the United States he was, 
according to Macaulay, "agitated and embarrassed more than 
ever he had been by the leveled cannon or pointed musket. He 
10 145 



Every Life A Delight 



trembled, and several times could scarce make out to read his 
speech." 

But Washington had a humorous vein in his make-up, and 
this frequently helped him out. He was never too ill at ease 
to be pleasant, or to show himself the gentleman. 





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THE TORN GLOVES 



Once, at Fort Cumberland, immediately after the defeat of 
Braddock, he was told of a report that he himself had been 
killed and had made his dying speech. 

Seizing a pen and summoning a messenger, he hurriedly wrote 
a note and sent it to his brother (John Augustine), saying: 

"I take this early opportunity to contradict the circum- 
stantial account of my death, and to assure you that I have not 
yet composed my dying speech." 

On another occasion, hearing complaints as to the sufferings 
of the Revolutionary armies because of the lack of money, he 
wrote that "the army had contracted to such an extent the 

146 



Happy Inspirations 



habit of existing without money that it would be injurious to 
it to introduce any different custom." 

Thus this great man, who was always in the public eye, and 
always occupied with grave problems, could find ways of being 
genteel, mildly humorous, and always thoughtful of the happi- 
ness of others. 

Washington had a tender regard for children, and was never 
too hard-pressed to show them appropriate attention. The 
case of Priscilla, the tavern-keeper's daughter at Andover, is a 
case in point. She Was a neat and tidy child, and on courageously 
approaching him, he smiled, took her on his knee, chatted with 
her merrily, allowed her to mend his torn gloves, and on parting 
kissed her. 

They talked together for a space, 

And then she said demurely 
She would be glad that very morn 
To mend his riding gloves so torn; 
They needed patches surely. 

And that she did, so neatly, too, 
That when the coach was starting, 

He called her to him, ere he went — 

The great beloved President — 
And kissed her cheeks in parting. 




Every Life A Delight 



A MODEST SPIRIT 

Of all the conspicuous characters of English literature, 
Joseph Addison was perhaps the most diffident, shrinking, and 
modest, though his portrait hardly suggests this. 

Addison was not a public speaker, and he never hurried to get 
his own writings into print. Indeed, some of his very best 
literary work was long withheld from press. 

This is a remarkable fact, too, for Addison was one of the 
finest essayists that ever lived. Lord Macaulay considered his 
poorest work "as good as the best of his coadjutors." 

Even in matters commonplace Addison could say striking 
things. "If," said he, "we divide the life of most men into 
twenty parts, we shall find that at least nineteen of them are 
mere gaps and chasms, filled with neither pleasure nor business." 

"Half the misery of life," he averred, "would be extinguished 
if men would alleviate the general curse they lie under, by 
mutual offices of compassion, benevolence, and humanity," a 
saying as true in our strenuous times as in his own. 

Addison was a man of high moral impulses and a charming 
talker, especially when face to face with a trusted friend. He was 
good-natured, and so cheery that his very countenance took on 
an air of amiability, if not beauty. 

He was a preacher's son, and held that Christianity is "the 
secret of all actual good cheer." He thought that "a vicious 
man and atheist have no pretense to cheerfulness, since it is 
impossible for any one to live in good humor and enjoy his 
present existence if he is apprehensive either of torment or 
annihilation, of being miserable, or of not being at all." 

Addison made friends easily, and had he let the wine-cup 
alone, might have lived longer, and would have been held up 
as a model. 

One thing in his favor was his detestation of card-playing. 
He could n't see how intelligent people can pass a dozen hours 
together in shuffling and dividing a pack of cards, with no 
other conversation except a few game phrases. 

148 



~ 




Happy Inspirations 



SERENITY 

Human anger is never commendable, and rarely excusable. 
It can not be justified in one case out of a thousand. 

A ruffled temper is never a help, and it is often a detriment 
and hurt. 

Calm demeanor under any provocation is wise; blow and 
bluster are childish. 

A manly man always defers his anger, and thus he becomes 
"better than the mighty." 

The greater an offense may be, the more the need of con- 
siderate decision in respect to it. 

We can but respect a man who is as calm in speaking to a 
threatening foe as he is to a loving friend. 

"He that ruleth his own spirit is greater than he that taketh 
a city." 

Harsh words and fierce deeds never yet gave a truly great 
man any satisfaction. 

Our reasoning faculties are given us for use, and when we 
become so wrought up that we fail to use them, we belittle oui- 
selves. 

Fire and storm have no reason in them. To be wisely de- 
liberate we must keep cool. 

The only vengeance in which a true gentleman is justified is 
that of exchanging chaiity for injury. 

Except anger at sin, no man can be angry and sin not. 

Except the vengeance of love, no man can wreak vengeance 
and get off even. 

"Anger is a stone cast into a wasp's nest." Better leave the 
stone in the brook. 

Suppress one moment's anger, and you may save yourself a 
year of pain. 

Nearly all troubles and trials, animosities and regrets, grow 
out of an uncurbed temper. Better put on the bridle. 

Bear and forbear. Anger is the fool's weapon. It is the 
soft tongue that breaketh the bone. 

151 



Every Life A Delight 



DOMESTICITY 

Martha Washington, the first " first lady of the land," was 
rich in all that goes to make up ideal American womanhood. 
She was a woman of wealth, but her greatest riches were a warm 
religious spirit and plain good sense. 

Her air, her manners, all who saw admired; 
Courteous, though coy, and gentle, though retired; 
The joy of youth and health her eyes displayed, 
And ease of heart her every look conveyed. 

Martha Dundridge was born in Virginia in 1732, and at the 
age of seventeen married Daniel Parke Custis, son of the king's 
counsel for Virginia. At his death she was left with two children 
and a large fortune. 

At the age of twenty-seven she became the wife of Colonel 
George Washington, and took up her abode at the Mt. Vernon 
mansion. She was beautiful, elegant in person, not too tall, good- 
natured, with fair complexion, dark, expressive eyes, and a look 
beaming with intelligence. 

She loved society, was always well-gowned, revered her 
husband, and often shared his headquarters in the field during 
the Revolutionary War; and she always received his guests 
with queenly courtesy. 

When Washington was elected President, she received a 
royal reception in New York. She was "clothed tidily in Ameri- 
can textile manufactures." When her chaise rolled into the 
city, cannons boomed her welcome, and cavalcades of gentle- 
men were her willing escoits. 

Lady Washington's moral character was as lovely as her 
physical charms. She was not a person of distinguished liter- 
ary taste, but she was a home-keeper, rising early, personally 
inspecting everything about the house, and after breakfast each 
day spending one hour in private devotion in her own room. 

She was a social favorite, though independent and plain. 
She often wore garments which were made from cloth woven 
by her own servants. In this habit her distinguished husband 

152 




THE FIRST 

FIRST LADY OF THE LAND 



Happy Inspirations 



was her match, for at his inauguration he wore a full suit of 
fine cloth which was the handiwork of his own household. 

Mrs. Washington loved her husband and satisfied his crav- 
ing for domestic bliss. At the time he took command of the 
American armies he wrote to her expressing reluctance at the 
separation, and added: "I should enjoy more real happiness in 
one month with you at home than I have the most distant 
prospect of enjoying abroad if my stay were to be from seven 
to seventy years." 

Martha Washington illustrates Hermes' remark: "A beauti- 
ful and chaste woman is the perfect workmanship of God — the 
true glory of angels, the rare miracle of earth, and the sole 
wonder of the world." 



SINCERITY 

Be what thou seemest, friend o' mine, 
Live out strong-shod thine inmost creed : 

Let soul-light through thy features shine; 
Lay bare thine heart in inmost deed. 

Say what thou meanest, friend o' mine; 

Flash forth the thought that deepest burns 
Dissemble not in word of thine ; 

Speech insincere a true heart spurns. 

Do as thou'rt prompted, friend o' mine; 

Fling impulse into action straight ; 
Make what thou doest be the sign 

Of what thou art — naught else is great. 



155 



Every Life A Delight 



GENUINENESS 



Running through the warp and woof of every true and 
lovable character are two principal threads, one of silk, and the 
other of gold. 













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PURE GOLD 





The golden thread is genuineness, and the silken is tender- 
ness or .affection. When these are strong and well- woven, we 
have useful and influential people. 

As a rule, these two threads go together, and should do so. 
Tenderness and genuineness make the perfect lady. 

156 



Happy Inspirations 



Show me the woman whose individuality is her own prompter, 
whose mission is to fulfill her own manifest calling as wife, 
mother, home-keeper, or social worker, firm in her convictions, 
tender in her requirements, and I will show you a woman whose 
society is coveted, whose friendship is prized, and whose life is 
a marked example of beauty and strength. 

Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing so gentle as 
real strength. Gentleness and strength make the gentleman. 

Genuineness is manhood or womanhood, and affection is life. 
In these we have our being, and from them come whatever is 
lovely, noble, sweet, powerful, and swaying in what we say and 
do. Of all earthly music, that which is heard the farthest and 
sounds the sweetest is the beating of a sound, true, and loving 
heart. 

Search out the great and mighty from the records of fame, 
and find how every one of them had in himself the ring of sound- 
ness, the tone of genuineness, the stamp of being himself and not 
another, the real, original metal, and not a sham or counterfeit. 
Moreover, these brave and independent leaders were, as a rule, 
tender of heart, considerate in spirit, faithful in friendship, and 
both loved and loving in the domestic relations. 

Men want other men to be themselves ; that is, to be as God 
made them, not pretenders, or apes, or copyists, assuming airs of 
importance and living in coldness, hardness, deceit, meanness, 
and consequent impotency. As Cicero said: ''True glory strikes 
root, and even extends itself; all false pretensions fail as do 
flowers, nor can any feigned thing be lasting." 



157 



Every Life A Delight 



CONTENTMENT 

Man's duty is to make himself useful, and thus life becomes 
interesting, while being comparatively free from anxiety. 

No man can fill his life with everything sweet, valuable, 
energetic, and interesting and yet keep care outside. 

"Mark Antony sought for perfect happiness in love, Brutus 
in glory, Caesar in dominion: the first found disgrace, the second 
disgust, the last ingratitude, and each destruction." 

Wealth is good, but it rarely comes without trouble, tempta- 
tion, and danger, making life unhappier than it was before. 

Sometimes people dream that entire happiness would be 
found in freedom; but this is only a dream. As Ruskin ob- 
served, "A fish is freer than a man, and a fly is the incarnation of 
freedom, but neither rises to a life of much interest, and both 
are in danger of quick death." 

Persons who give way to the craving for freedom usually 
fall under a most terrible tyranny, being slaves to temptation, 
and often the victims of appetite and lust. True self-control has 
more happiness in it in one minute than self-indulgence has in a 
whole lifetime. 

Man can not use much of the earth upon which he has his 
home, and the more he craves the less contented he will be. It 
is told that Cineas the philosopher once asked Pyrrhus what 
he would do when he had conquered Italy. "I will conquer 
Sicily." "And after Sicily?" "Then Africa." "And after you 
have conquered the world?" "I will take my ease and be 
merry." "Then," asked Cineas, "why can you not take your 
ease and be merry now?" 

A man is his own best world. Let him conquer that and he 
has conquered all. 

He that conquers can rest. Complacency follows struggle. 
The ruler of his own spirit is a prince enjoying peace. His heart 
has room for every delight, and it is there that sweet Content 
is most likely to find her mild abode. 



158 




CONTENTED 



Happy Inspirations 



OF DIAMOND VALUE 

A genuine diamond is almost indestructible. It can stand 
the test of i aging lire. I found this out by accident. 

A friend once passed her diamond ring to me for safe-keeping 
while she did some work. 

I wrapped the ring in a slip of paper and put it into my pocket, 
forgetting all about it until it was called for. 

I then remembered that in kindling a fire I had taken the 
crumpled paper from my pocket and burned it up, diamond 
with it. 

My face blanched. The day had been cold, and the fire very 
hot; in fact, a rousing coal -fire. 

Rushing to the stove, I began to search the ashes for the 
missing diamond, at length finding it, dimmed and dulled by 
the intense heat. 

Going with it to a dealer, I was rejoiced to learn that the 
stone was uninjured, and that after repolishing it would be more 
radiant and valuable than before, which proved to be the case. 

The gem was sent to New York, burnished anew, given a 
rich setting, and of course was prized by its owner more than 
ever. 

My own interest in diamonds was thus enhanced. No other 
stone is so beautiful. No other substance is so impenetrable. 
No other fiber is so fireproof. 

Diamond-polishing is one of the finest of the fine arts. Two 
years have been occupied in the cutting of one stone. A single 
diamond has been esteemed as worth five millions. 

The New Gem diamond, which measured four inches in 
diameter when discovered in 1905, contained three thousand 
carats. 

The Brazil diamond, discovered in 1680, measured three 
inches and contained one hundred and thirty cut karats. 

The Kohinoor, discovered in 1304, belonging at length to 
Queen Victoria, is valued at six hundred thousand dollars. 

The diamond has always been highly prized. Its ancient 
11 161 



Every Life A Delight 



name was " adamant," and it was used chiefly in cutting or 
writing upon glass or other hard substances, hence the expression 
"An adamant harder than hint." 

But there are diamonds other than those plucked from the 
soil of the Transvaal and coveted by all the world. 

These other diamonds are none other than human hearts 
that glow, intellects that sparkle, characteis that shine, spirits 
which are "purest rays serene." 

These higher-class diamonds are not all to be found in the 
open; some of them have never been discovered at all, others 
are yet in the rough and needing resolute polishing; but every 
one of them has value, ornamenting the home, flashing in schools, 
gracing individual life, enriching society, and really doing the 
world more good than all the literal diamonds which flash in 
royal crowns, or are guarded in the treasures of society queens. 

It is said that the potential value of a gem becomes actual 
after contact with the emery wheel. When the Cullinan dia- 
mond was lifted out of the blue earth of South Africa, its weight 
in the rough was over three thousand carats. After a year, 
however, in the polishing shop of an Amsterdam lapidary, 
though it had lost weight, its value had enhanced and it was 
considered fit to shine in the British crown. 

Diamonds, however, all have intrinsic worth. Plentitude 
does not seem to lower their cost nor lessen their brilliancy. 
They can be imitated, but not cheapened. Excellence inheres 
in them. They are never anything but diamonds. 

So with those gems of character which God has set in moral 
and spiritual crowns. They may shine by multitudes unseen, in 
humble cots, around beds of affliction, in halls of learning, in 
mission fields afar, but they are all diamonds still. Angels see 
them and appreciate their beauty. Great men know them and 
accord them their dues. They can not be destroyed by fire, or 
sword, or neglect. They are heaven's own priceless gems lent 
awhile to earth but soon to flash in imperial splendor through- 
out eternal years. 



162 




A POLISHED DIAMOND 



Happy Inspirations 



CHEERFULNESS 

Some life qualities aie like a field of thistles, homely and 
hurtful; others are like a garden full of roses and lilies, fragrant 
and beautiful. 

Cheerfulness is a delightful life quality, as full of bright bou- 
quets as a bird song is full of music. 

What sunshine is to flowers, and what flowers are to persons 
who love them, so good cheer is. to society; it develops, refines, 
and makes glad. 

If one is determined to be miserable in this world, he can 
easily find enough to make him so, but if he wishes to be happy, 
he can open the windows of his soul and let in the sunshine. 
Life's day is light or dark in proportion as our vision is clear 
and out spirit bright. 

' ' I would rather have a fool make me merry than experience 
make me sad." A song in the heart and a bouquet in the window 
are sources of gladness. 

Innocent cheeriness beautifies any face and modifies any 
deformity. A club-foot's smile is more attractive than a beauty- 
queen's scowl. 

Some fastidious people use face massage to keep out wrinkles. 
Cheeriness is a better remedy; it transforms wrinkles into 
beauty lines. 

The beauty doctors say, "Don't laugh; laughing makes 
wrinkles." Rather say, "Don't frown; frowning kills folks." 
"A light heart lives long." 

Cheerfulness is health; melancholy is disease, and heart 
disease at that. Nothing is more deadly than dumps. 

When the heart is light, everything in life is bracing and 
charming. Even tears may water roses. 

For usefulness or for a good time one ounce of cheerfulness 
is worth a ton of ill-humor. The scold never yet scaled the 
summit of bliss. 

"If I can put one touch of rosy sunset into the life of any 
man or woman, I shall feel that I have worked with God;" how 

165 



Every Life A Delight 



much more so if I can put in one touch of glorious sunrise! 
"A cheerful friend is like a sunny day." 

Cheerfulness is an everyday virtue. It is just as appropriate 
for Sunday morning before Church as it is for Saturday night 
after the work is done and the wages reaped. 

Cheerfulness is a prime life quality; it tones the strength, 
increases fortitude, softens hardship, and it smiles to the last. 



THE SUNNY SIDE 

Nature has her dark days, but that is no valid reason why 
life should be shaded. 

Open the shutters and let in the light. 

A sunny disposition irradiates almost any experience, even 
that of sickness, sorrow, pain, or death. 

Get out of the fogs, friend, the fogs of doubt and despair. 
Step into the sunlight of confidence and hope. 

Keep up a cheery spirit. Forget the meaning of fretfulness, 
panic, and pessimism. 

This is a pretty good world to live in; some of its features 
are bad, but it is glorious to live just to make them better. 

Try the sunny side of life. Forsake the gloom of habitual 
shadow. Let the midday sun gain a chance to warm your heart 
and clarify your brain. 

Aim to be a sunbeam yourself. Perhaps some one is ex- 
pecting this of you. Seek access to clouded lives and brighten 
them up. 

Be a Lucy Larcom and say: 

If I were a sunbeam, 

I know where Fd go ; 
Into lowliest hovels, 

Dark with want and woe; 
Till sad hearts looked upward, 

I would shine and shine; 
Then they 'd think of heaven, 
Their sweet home and mine. 



166 




SUNSHINE 



Happy Inspirations 



SUNSHINE IN PRACTICE 

Forever the sun is pouring his gold 

On a hundred worlds that beg and borrow; 

His warmth he squanders on summits cold, 
His wealth on homes of want and sorrow: 

To withhold his largess of precious light 

Is to bury himself in eternal night: 
To give is to live. 

Nothing expands and warms the heart like giving. Nothing 
freezes it into churlishness like habitual withholding. 

Correct giving ennobles, develops, and gives power of ascent. 
Those who give only a trifle, as compared with ability, become a 
trifle. 

Giving causes the face to shine and the character to glow. 
It makes the giver feel that he is living the right sort of life. 

From the countenance of the giver the solar light flashes, 
reflecting a quickened inner consciousness. 

Just try the matter sometime; yea, try it often. Place a 
few pennies, nickels, or dimes in the wind-chilled hands of that 
faithful little newsboy, and feel your own soul made warm by 
his "Thank you!" If one boy doesn't show gratitude, try 
another. 

Or, plank down before the eyes of some sweet, bright, pov- 
erty-stricken little neighbor girl, whose widowed mother has 
taught her to repeat trustful prayers and to be good, a few 
shining quarters, or half-dollars, telling her that they are actually 
hers, and then look upon her beaming face for the softening 
light that seems so much like heaven's own. 

I tell you, there is something lovely in this. Xo one can fail 
to enjoy the enjoyment that creates joy. 

Besides this, the practice of giving harmonizes with the aim 
and spirit of modern life. This is the giving age. Up-to-date 
people love to bestow gifts upon worthy causes. 

Not a week passes without news appearing of somebody, 
somewhere, giving something to needy and noble enterprises. 

169 



Every Life A Delight 



And I say this is right. It is inspiriting. It brightens the 
world. It comports with the spirit and principle of a true life. 

The measure of each man's charity is left largely to the 
dictates of his own conscience, but a measure in some degree is 
laid upon each. We almost require it of each other. 

Everybody knows that beneficence is the fundamental law 
of the golden-rule life. It helps all and hurts none. 

It counteracts man's natural tendency to set his heart upon 
property as a finality. 

It creates in him a true and cordial sympathy that elevates 
society. 

It strengthens his soul in good will and love toward every- 
body. 

It exhibits tenderness in a way that counts, because it 
ameliorates woe and makes others happy. 

This practice is ever and everywhere a redeeming element 
in human character. 

It allies man to angels and to the world's great Christ who 
gave Himself for all. 

It saves man from that inevitable self-degradation that 
always follows incessant self-indulgence and penuriousness. 

It is a practice within the reach of every prosperous person, 
and indeed is in itself a big step toward greater prosperity. 

Few wiser men ever lived than the famous king who said: 
"There is that scattereth, and yet increase th, and there is that 
withholdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty." 



MIND FOOD 

Sober thought is the mind's best food ; wit is only its seasoning. 

Wit in excess is too much of a good thing; merciless wit is 
poison. 

Wit is a sort of a mental freak; Dryden thought it "allied 
to madness." 

Wit, to be pleasant, must be spontaneous; studied wit is 
stupid. 

170 



Happy Inspirations 



Wit is not a proof of wisdom, but only of wide-a-wake-ness. 
A dude called out, "Where's that blockhead servant of mine?" 
"On your shoulders," was the reply he heard. 

Talleyrand was famed for wit, but every thrust he made was 
vinegarish, and it is a wonder he escaped the dagger. A person 
of doubtful character once re- 
marked in his hearing that he felt 
"the torments of hell." "What! 
Already?" was the suggestive in- 
quiry. 

Talleyrand being asked whether 
a certain authoress was not a "little 
tiresome," replied, "Not at all; she 
is perfectly tiresome." 

W T hen the great tactician, Se- 
monville, died, Talleyrand, who had 
depended on him, dryly observed, 
"I can not for the life of me see 
what interest he had to serve by 
dying just now." 

Two prominent ladies asked 
Talleyrand which one he liked best. 
"Both," was his answer. "If we were both drowning, which 
one would you save?" "One with each hand." "But if only 
one could possibly be rescued, which?" The sharp questioner 
heard this answer, "Madame, you who know so much about 
everything doubtless know how to swim." 

Some persons seem to be incapable of wit; they can not 
even repeat the witticisms of others. At a public dinner in 
Washington a humorist sat opposite a bald-headed senator, and, 
turning to one sitting beside him, asked, "Do you know why the 
senator's head is like Alaska?" " I do not." "Because it's a 
great white bare place." This tickled the hearer, and he in turn 
asked the senator the same question direct. The senator replied 
that he could not imagine, and was told, "Because it's a great 
place for white bears." 




TALLEYRAND 



171 



Every Life A Delight 



WORLD-WIDE WISDOM 

"To die in the last ditch," was first uttered by William of 
Orange. 

"Every tub must stand on its own bottom," is from Bunyan. 

"Remedy worse than the disease," is from Bacon. 

"Take the wrong sow by the ears," is from Ben Jonson. 

"The moon is made of green cheese," is found in Rabelais. 

"Too much of a good thing," represents Don Quixote. 

"Virtue is her own reward," emanates from Dry den. 

"It is an ill wind that blows no man good," is Shakesperean. 

The following proverbs represent the nations named: 

Great barkers are nae biters. Scotch. 

All bite the bitten dog. Portuguese. 

What three know, all know. Spanish. 

He gives twice who gives quickly. Roman. 

The absent are always in the wrong. French. 

He who owns a horse can borrow a horse. Welsh. 

The hardest step is over the threshold. Italian. 

Make thyself a sheep, and the wolf is ready. Russian. 

He that lives with cripples learns to limp. Dutch. 

A lean agreement is better than a fat lawsuit. Italian. 



172 




HEART COMMUNION 



PART FOURTH 
THE TENDER AFFECTIONS 



Happy they who hold their friends, 
As a magnet holds the steel ; 

Worth inherent serves the ends 
Of Love's first and last appeal. 



The Tender Affections 



LOVE 

Love is the richest thing in the world. Without it wealth, 
power, fame, and sport would be but poverty itself. 

Love relieves the tension of power. Were there no affection, 
every ruler would be either a tyrant or a pigmy. 

Love is the fascination of fame. Human nature wants not 
only to be known, but favorably known. Celebrity without 
esteem is the cemetery of comfort. 

Love is the zest of sport. Without affection pastime pales 
into brutality. Just in proportion as warm Christian love 
waned the cruel old Roman arena flourished. 

Love enriches whatever it reaches. It is the very heart of 
everything that men covet. The most luxurious lust affords 
no pleasure like unto the minutest joy of genuine love. 

Love institutes the charms of life. It makes existence dear, 
work easy, care endurable, association delightful, courtship 
beautiful, marriage blissful, parenthood heavenly, age serene, 
and death rapturous. 

He builds an unchanging fortune who develops love. Soli- 
tude can not dishearten him. Misfortune brings to him no 
despair. His treasure is hidden in his own heart and God's 
hand holds the key. Should the earth itself fall from its founda- 
tions, his affection would float him to the skies. 

Love takes many forms, but in any form its character is 
golden. Even animal love enriches human thought. The 
affection of a mother bird or beast elicits encomiums. 

The heart is hard in nature and unfit 

For human fellowship, as being void 

Of sympathy, and therefore dead alike 

To love and friendship both, that is not pleased 

With sight of animals enjoying life, 

Nor feels their happiness augment his own. 

We repeat the word, Love is the richest thing in the world. 
It is life's great end, but not its ending; it is life's wealth, never 
spent, though ever spending. No man loves to live like him 
who lives to love. 

12 177 



Every Life A Delight 



THE BEAUTY OF LOVE 

Love is beautiful to the thought, and love makes everything 
seem beautiful. It is a spirit with a charm in it. 

Love has been called blind, but this is not true. Love has 
keen eyesight. It sees the best traits, however, and ignores 
faults. This is a beautiful kind of blindness. 

Love is beautiful in courage. "None but the brave deserve 
the fair." Bravery is beautiful, and love is brave. Love will 
dare death for the object loved. 

Love is beautiful in persistency. It knows no defeat. It 
lays siege to the last breath and dies trying. "As soon go kindle 
a fire with snow as to quench the fire of love with words." 

Love is beautiful in generosity. It is the only passion that 
admits another to its dreams of happiness. It pictures heaven 
for two and often transforms the picture into a glorious reality. 

Love is beautiful in its consciousness. It knows the sweet- 
ness of being. If there is anything sweeter than to be loved, it 
is loving; and if there is anything sweeter than loving, it is to 
be loved while loving. 

Love is beautiful in its rapture. A perfect mutual love is 
almost too ecstatic for earth. "To love one who loves you, to 
be the idol of your idol, exceeds the limit of human joy — it is like 
stealing fire from heaven." 

Love is beautiful in its variety. Though one in substance, 
it takes many forms — the love of lovers, the conjugal, the 
paternal, the fraternal, the filial, the patriotic, and love for love's 
sake. A person in love carries a sort of talisman that makes 
life too precious to be touched. 

Love is beautiful in duration and sweep. It ignores decline, 
survives decay, strokes white hairs, and keeps young in heart. 
It thrives in every clime, is conversant with every tongue, and 
does n't stop with earth. Love is of God. Angels revel in its 
atmosphere. Eternity can not exhaust it. 



178 




A STORY AT A DISTANCE 



The Tender Affections 



ALL AND ALWAYS 

True love will brook no common share 
In what she holds the dearest; 

Xo less can satisfy her prayer 
Than declaration clearest — 

All and always. 

For less than all may mean reserve, 

Perchance for other lover; 
While less than always can not serve 

Expected life to cover — 
All and always. 

True love keeps naught in thought or pelf 

From consideration tender; 
She lays down life, and flings herself 

In absolute surrender — 
All and always. 

And love demands a like return 

From her accepting wooer; 
She thinks the flame of love must burn 

In splendor ever truer — 
All and always. 



181 



Every Life A Delight 



LOVE'S RICHEST OUTLAY 

The richest outlay that Love can make is in a happy mar- 
riage. In no other relation can it exert its force with so much 
benefit to all concerned. 

Marriage is not merely a union between two creatures — it is 
a union between two spirits, and its design is to perfect the nature 
of both, and to populate the world with other spirits equally 
perfect. 

In this union Love finds its best chance to develop excellence 
of character, strength of moral will, sympathy, tenderness, and 
all those lovely graces and traits which make life worth living 
both for self and others. 

Marriage has been called ''the bloom or blight of all men's 
happiness." Love, or the want of it, makes it so. Without love, 
marriage is a perpetual degradation and a living death; with it, 
marriage is a constant inspiration and a glorious life. 

"The institution of marriage," says Timothy Dwight, 
"keeps the moral world in being, and secures it from an un- 
timely dissolution. Without it natural affection and amiable- 
ness would not exist, domestic education would become extinct, 
industry and economy be unknown, and man would be left to 
the precarious existence of the savage. But for this institution, 
learning and refinement would expire, government sink into 
the gulf of anarchy, and religion, hunted from the earth, would 
hasten back to her native heaven." 

Marriage makes home. Home is the nation's unit and its 
recruiting shrine. Patriotism, or love of country, thrives most 
when family love reaches its perfect stages. 

Man reaches his highest point of perfection in the bracing 
atmosphere of a love-blest home. Warmed and cheered by a 
wise woman's affection, his hidden comforts become more 
precious than the gold of the mountains or the treasures of the 
deep. 

"What greater thing is there," inquires George Eliot, "for 
two human souls than to feel that they are joined for life — to 

182 




NEAR LOVES ALTAR 



The Tender Affections 



strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all 
sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be one with each 
other in silent, unspeakable memories at the moment of the 
last parting?" 

LOVE AND LONGING 

He's far away, the idol of my heart, 

And night and day, in dream and waking thought, 

I long for him with longing inexpressible. 

It is a longing that amounts to pain; 
Yet sweeter far the longing and the pain 
Than stranger be to love. 

Sometimes he comes; he names the day 
When I his face shall see and hear 
The music of his voice. How sweet 
The glad anticipation! I count the hours 
Until that interview so precious 
Becomes reality to me. 

love! O longing love! 
My inmost heart is stirred 

As by a power akin to the divine. 
Outdrawn in force my very soul 
Leaps through the realms of space 
And clasps in ecstasy and eager haste 
The object of my love. 

Before mine eyes his image stands. 

1 view his smile, his arms outstretched 

To clasp me to his breast, and, whispering low, 
Speak sweetness through my frame. 

All else is naught compared with him. 
The angel forms that grace the courts of God 
And shine in brightness in the streets of gold 
Are not the forms I seek. 
185 



Every Life A Delight 



'T is he alone; my own, though his, 
For he is mine, and evermore shall be. 
The earth may fail with all its life, 
With all its fleet, material things, 
But love — my love, my longing love — 
Shall never fail or die. 

In regions far beyond the roll of years, 
Or reign of earthly law, this longing love 
Shall rule and thrive till merged and sated 
In the love of him for whom I long. 



A WOMAN'S HEART 

A prisoner droops in a gloomy cell, 
Accused of crime as black as hell ; 
His hands are stained with human blood; 
The proofs rise up a whelming flood ; 
Yet into his cell flies a sweet bouquet, 
For a woman's heart is touched to-day. 

A woman droops in a parlor bright; 
Her unstained hands are lily-white; 
Her eyes are red with weeping sore; 
She lists for footsteps at the door — 
Her recreant spouse doth from her stay, 
And a woman's heart is torn to-day. 

A loved youth droops in a gilded hall, 
Wheie strength and virtue meet their fall; 
A son or daughter, either, or both, 
The seeds of vice and evil soweth. 
O mother-hope, farewell for aye! 
A woman's heart is broken to-day. 



186 



The Tender Affections 



HER ANSWER 

"Wilt thou become my wife?" asked he. 
"I'll think most seriously," said she. 

And think she did. Her heart was moved 
By loving much and being loved. 

The past arose; the future loomed, 
And life its aspects grave assumed. 

Her childhood home, parental care, 
Her dear surname, her freedom rare, 
Her girlhood chums, her infant schemes, 
Her schoolday romps, her maiden dreams- 
All rushed upon her memory keen, 
A tender, tearful, happy scene. 

Then surged the question: Yes, or Xo! 
Surrender self, or love forego; 
Surrender self, become a wife, 
A better-half the rest of life. 

Not long in doubt she held the choice — 
The warmth of love subdued her voice; 
In mingled confidence and fear 
The answer "Yes!" she whispered clear. 



187 



Every Life A Delight 



A TENDER HEART 

Julia Ward Howe is best known through her noble "Battle 
Hymn of the Republic," which was composed in 1862, after 
she had visited an encampment of Union soldiers in the Civil 
War and actually saw the camp surprised by the Southern Army, 
and instantly engaged in battle. In her dreams that night she 
saw the flash of guns and heard the noise of war. She awoke 
with the words of the Hymn ringing in her head, and wrote them 
down then and there, that she might not lose them. 

No sooner had the Hymn appeared in print than Chaplain 
McCabe committed the words to memory, and soon afterward, 
while confined in Libby Prison, when the news of the Gettysburg 
victory came to the depressed prisoners, he led them in the 
mighty song: 

"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord, 
His truth is marching on." Soon the Battle Hymn became one 
of the leading lyrics of the war. 

But Mrs. Howe was more than a war poet. She lived a 
brilliant life in many ways. The noble help she rendered to 
people in distress, and the assistance she gave to all good causes, 
were enough to place her name high in the roll of fame. 

Her maiden name was Cutler. She was born in Newport, 
R. I., May 27, 1819, and died at Portsmouth, R. I., of pneumonia, 
October 17, 1910. At the age of twenty-three she married 
Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, of Boston. 

Mrs. Howe was a great favorite with children. No visitor 
delighted her little descendants more than she. They would 
dance around her while she played and sang jigs and reels and 
marches, some of them improvised for the occasion, and all of 
them rendered in the liveliest style of the musician's art. 

One of her little melodies, "The Canary Bird's Funeral," 
with its sweet representations of minute guns fired over the grave, 
the grief of the poor mother at home, and the marching away of 
the funeral train, often made the listeners sad and tearful; but 

188 




MRS. JULIA WARD HOWE AND HER GRAND-NIECE 



The Tender Affections 



they were always quickly cheered by happy words and songs 
thereafter. 

Mrs. Howe's power of music was a wonderful gift. Rhythm 
and melody came to her as easily as speech. She is said to have 
known more songs, in all the languages of earth, than any other 
person of her generation. Her own children never came to the 
end of her songs, and her grandchildren loved them as much as 
her own. Music flowed from her throat as naturally as a bird 
sings. Most of her compositions were never written down, and 
whenever any occasion required a new one, it was forthcoming 
as spontaneously as food for the feasts. 

Mrs. Howe became famous. She spoke often at great meet- 
ings, was consulted much on great subjects, and exerted an 
influence always powerful in behalf of great causes. She resided 
in Boston, and had a summer home at Newport. She lived 
elegantly, but not ostentatiously, and was a great favorite with 
small and great, young and old alike. Her superior knowledge, 
sweet wisdom, and still greater tenderness and love for every 
creature made her a center of interest to all. 

This tribute by one of her grandchildren will be a fitting 
close : 

"Not only had we delightful visits from her in our own 
homes, but we went besides to stay with her. In all my life I 
have never known any one so sparkling with fun and wit as was 
she; and the games and plays, the music and dancing that we 
had with her were like so much sparkling sunshine. Even when 
she was at her serious work in the morning, we might always 
come into her room, if we would play quietly, and she always 
arranged something to amuse us, and had a moment's laughing 
talk with us before she went back to her desk." 



191 




SISTERS 



THE LOVE OF SISTERS 

No human affection is more beautiful than the love of sisters. 

Paternal affection may be more compassionate, and filial 
affection more ardent, but in the element of beauty the love of 
intelligent sisters surpasses both. 

I knew a quartet of loving, intelligent sisters. Bright of 
intellect, comely in face and form, socially engaging, warm in 
temperament, self-respecting, and deferential, their friendship 
was a prize and their friends were legion. 

Lively, indeed, was life in their association. Though not all 
equally witty, none were without wit, and all had what was 
better than wit — that wisdom which is "the olive that springeth 
from the heart, bloometh on the tongue, and beareth fruit in the 
action." 

And these four sisters are yet living to bless each other and 
to grace society. 

As constant as the light, as warm and genial as the summei 
air, their love lives on, shines on, keeping a glow in the heart 
and ever fostering in their associates a strong desire for long- 
continued life. 

Of sisters in general it may be said that they are not only 
loving, but that they rarely lose kindly interest in each other, 
as brothers often do. 

192 



The Tender Affections 



Brothers are interested in property and its related rights and 
benefits; sisters are more interested in matters of propriety and 
their related joys. 

Brothers go to law with brothers, but the quarrels of sisters, 
if they have any, seldom reach so serious a stage. 

The devil tempts one mother's son 

To rage against another; 
So wicked Cain was hurried on 

Till he had killed his brother. 

Brothers may kill each other, as they do sometimes, but 
such a crime among sisters would shock the world. 

Sisters are tender toward each other and toward brothers, 
too, and their generous love goes far toward making home a 
paradise. 

Some one has said that "a happy family is but an earlier 
heaven," and nothing except parental wisdom goes farther in 
making happy families than the love of sisters. 

THE UGLINESS OF HATRED 

Giants are found only among lovers. The cordial hater is a 
pigmy. 

Hate dwarfs the soul. It is a force that consumes vital 
energy faster than a steam locomotive consumes coal. 

Violent hatred sinks the hater lower than anything hated 
can be. 

Hate is heart madness. It is a cancer that eats out all 
tenderness and leaves the moral nature a skeleton. 

The cordial hater sees everything off-color. His mental 
vision is not natural. He often loathes what others can but love. 

Haters are failures, and deserve to fail. They do themselves 
no good by hating, and it is impossible for them to do good to 
those they hate. 

Hate no one. Hate vice. All hatred of persons is vicious. 
Hatred is the vice of the nairow. 

Cordial haters should carry mirrors to look into and see how 
pale they are. Hatred turns the life-blood into bile. 

193 



Every Life A Delight 



No man can rise by hate. Stop hating, or else stop hoping. 

Hatred never goes to seed and dies out. It is more persistent 
than Canada thistles. Love alone can cure it. 

Expend your soul power in hate and you won't have any 
capital left for work. Heart disease is always deadly. 

When a cordial hater gets sick and wishes to be reconciled 
to the one long hated, look out fcr a death near. In the light of 
eternity hatred does not seem worth while. 



And shall I hate my brother? No! 

His hold on life, like mine, is frail. 
Soon off upon death's sea we go, 

And hatred only speeds the sail. 



QUEEN OF THE WORLD 

I have a friend of whom one who is intimately acquainted 
with her sa}/s, "She mothers everybody." 

This friend is yet young in years, and still younger in heart, 
a beautiful Christian character, popular in society, interesting 
in personal intercourse, and yet her distinguishing characteristic 
really is that "she mothers everybody." 

Could a sweeter compliment be paid to a woman? 

There are mothers and mothers. Some have traits of one 
kind and some of another; but all who are really motherly possess 
at least one trait which is peerless in beauty and sacredness, for 

A mother is a mother still, 
The holiest thing alive. 

Everywhere in this world mothers are needed, for the in- 
spirations and restraints of motherhood are indispensable in 
softening the rough features of this hard world and in making 
collective life all that it should be. An old Jewish adage touches 
the point, "God could not be everywhere, and therefore He 
made mothers." 

Among mothers generally there are few who are inclined 
to "mother everybody," or who even mother somebody as 
wisely and tenderly as they should. 

194 



The Tender Affections 



To my mind, the most royal quality in human life is that of 
motherliness, being akin to that of angelic ministration. 

True motherliness is tenderness enshrined and solicitude 
impersonated. It looks to the well-being of man as man, ir- 
respective of habits or tendencies, beliefs or practices. It is 
love in its most striking form. "If there be aught surpassing 
human deed or word cr thought, it is a mother's love." 

The surpassing attribute of a mother's love is its constancy, 
its blindness to faults, its hope for the best, its charity for weak- 
nesses, its pity for ignorance and defects, its deathless sweetness, 
and its yearning strength. 

Mother love may be, and often is, selfish — exceedingly 
selfish — yet it flows on with the steadiness of a river current, 
carrying hope and blessing to hearts perhaps by others forsaken 
and in themselves cheerless. 

"A father," says Washington Irving, "may turn his back 
on his child ; brothers and sisters may become inveterate enemies ; 
husbands may desert their wives, and wives their husbands, but 
a mother's love endures through all. In good repute, in bad 
repute, in the face of the world's condemnation, a mother still 
loves on, and still hopes that her child may turn from his evil 
ways, and repent; still she remembers the infant smiles that 
once filled her bosom with rapture, the merry laugh, the joyful 
shout of his childhood, the opening promise of his youth, and 
she can never be brought to think him all unworthy." 

Well, indeed, that this is so. The race can not dispense 
with such a quality, for there is no other to take its place, and 
without it man would be wretched indeed. More wayward 
boys would become highwaymen, and more destructionists self- 
destructive, but for the restraining influences and endearing 
memories connected with the motherly spirit. 

The mother, in her office, holds the key 

Of the soul; and she it is who stamps the coin 

Of character, and makes the being who would be a savage, 

But for her gentle cares, a Christian man. 

Then crown her queen of the world. 



197 



Every Life A Delight 



Yes, crown her "queen of the world," and own that her love 
is the most beautiful thing in the world. 

"An angel," says Sam P. Jones, "was sent down from heaven 
one day to bring back the most beautiful thing on earth. He 
hunted long and carefully, saw a bed of full-blown American 
beauty roses, lovely beyond compare, and he gathered an arm- 
ful and started to return to his home above. As he soared into 
the air he saw a baby's smile, and, filled with rapturous admira- 
tion at the sight, he returned to take it too. By its side he dis- 
covered a mother's love, and with all three in his arms, he 
mounted to the place beyond the skies. Just outside the pearly 
gates the spirit paused for a moment, and lo! the roses had 
withered and were dead, the baby's smile had vanished, but, 
strong as ever, the mother's love remained; and he cast the 
others aside and took this and laid it at the Master's feet as the 
most lovely and lasting thing on earth." 



FATHER AND DAUGHTER 

How delightful is the relation existing betwixt a right- 
minded father and his affectionate daughter! 

To such a father, the daughter is almost a princess, and her 
pure and guileless soul is his shrine of tenderness and tears — 

A tear so limpid and so meek, 
It would not stain an angel's cheek; 
Tis that which pious fathers shed 
Upon a dutious daughter's head. 

A daughter's love is her father's heart-food, notably as he 
waxes old and begins to realize that the treasures of earth are 
slipping from his grasp. 

An aged father may lean on his son , but he wants his daughter 
to lean on him. 

Sons frequently lack the sympathy of daughters; they have 
spirits of. higher pitch, perhaps, but they are less inclined to 
sweet and endearing affection. 

198 




WATCHING FOR FATHER 



The Tender Affections 



Sons are often careless of the feelings of their sires, forgetful 
of the fact that their own sons may some day repay them in 

kind. 

Whoever makes his father's heart to bleed 
Shall have a child that will revenge the deed. 

Sons grow wise, or they think they do, and they imagine 
that their fathers grow otherwise. 

We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow: 
Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so. 

But daughters are usually considerate and loyal to their 
fathers. Many a daughter has given up a career, or a lover, or 
a fond pursuit solely to devote her life to the care of a lonely 
father. 

Young daughters have been known fairly to spring into 
adult tact in a day to take charge of households bereft of the 
mother, and to be to all concerned a strength and stay. 

Daughters concern themselves for a father's welfare, and 
in time of storm and stress watch for his coming with all the 
solicitude of a mother for her child. 

Daughters may sometimes err, they may fail and fall, they 
may sicken and die, but while society endures, next to their 
mothers, they will be man's comfort, solace, and support. 



201 




"BY EARTH-LIFE UNDEFILED" 



ROSA LOVAIRE 

As fair a maid as ever bloomed 

Within Columbia's realm; 
As sweet a wife as e'er assumed 

Of any home the helm; 
As true a mother as from whom 

A child its training drew; 
As keen a mourner as the doom 

Of widowhood e'er knew. 



O, strong was Rosa's constant love 
For husband and for child; 

It took its impress from above, 
By earth-life undefiled ; 
202 



The Tender Affections 



And cruel seemed the word which called 

That husband to his crown; 
She speechless stood, unnerved, appalled, 

To see him stricken down. 

But in her loneliness she turned, 

By mother-love impelled, 
And Duty's noblest lesson learned, 

In firm resolve upheld, 
To prize the gifts that still remained — 

The children of her joy; 
Each one to be most wisely trained 

For high and fit employ. 

This splendid mission she fulfilled, 

Disdaining lighter charge; 
In minds left fatherless distilled 

The rules of action large; 
And when her widowed life had closed, 

While Grief upreared her sign, 
A wealth of motherhood reposed 

Within God's templed shrine. 

MAKING FRIENDS 

When you want more friends just make them 

Thus wise people ever do; 
Choose them out, and simply take them 

To your warm heart beating true. 

Make them by the law of kindness — 
Kindness beaming from your eye, 

Viewing faults with willing blindness — 
Kindness which can never die. 

Friendliness is friendship maker; 

Be a friend, and friends are yours; 
Be of friends a wise care-taker; 

Friendship thus for aye endures. 
203 



Every Life A Delight 



PURE FRIENDSHIP 

There is a friendship as warm as summer air and as pure 
as the whitest snow. 

Integrity is the basis of it, and love and confidence are its 
first principles. 

Such friendship may be rare, but its rarity only enhances 
its value. 

It may indeed be rare, yet none the less real, it is the actual 
experience of a few privileged souls. 

Friendship itself is the affection arising from mutual esteem 
and good will. Itself is its end ; it has no motive. 

Such a friendship is pure when the persons related to it 
have the requisite character and intelligence to make it so. 
There are such persons. 

To say there are none such is to reflect on universal man- 
hood and womanhood, and to stigmatize the Author of all being. 

To find one such, just one, in whom we can trust implicitly, 
to whom we can pour out t 1 "^ heart freely, with whom we can 
ever walk and not grow weary, is to reach a status in which 
we shall not quarrel with the world or God. 

Life knows no . sweeter experience than friendship of this 
quality, for there is no higher happiness than to love such a 
friend and be loved in» return. 

"In all holiest and most unselfish love," says Trumbull, 
" friendship is the purest element of the affection. No love in 
any relation of life can be at its best if the element of friendship 
be lacking. And no love can transcend, in its possibilities of 
noble and ennobling exaltation, a love that is pure friendship." 



204 




FAITHFUL AND TRUE 



The Tender Affections 



ACCIDENTAL FRIENDSHIPS 

The happenings of daily life are those we least expect, 
And often these experiences are joyous in effect. 
The friends we make by accident are frequently the best; 
We cling to them in fond regard because they meet the test. 

A friend I met by accident while on an errand bent 
Has played her part as perfectly as though by heaven sent; 
A heart as pure, a life as clean, as fancy can conceive, 
With not a word, or look, or thought o'er which to ever grieve. 

True friendship has its boundaries, its limited domain; 
At most it is a luxury, a phase of social gain; 
And my good friend by accident has proved a friend indeed, 
Enlarging thought, enriching life, conserving special need. 

Therefore to me the happenings which come as a surprise 
Are apt to be the welcomest — God speed them in their iise! 
Should other friends by accident gain places in my heart, 
I '11 own the unexpected is of bliss the greater part. 



FRIENDLY GREETINGS 

Modes of salutation, or inquiries after health, take many 
forms, but there is hardly a nation without one of its own. 

The Americans, English, French, Germans, Italians, Rus- 
sians, and Spanish all shake hands and say something, if nothing 
more than "How d' ye do?" 

Some peoples on meeting give each other a vigorous slap on 
the shoulder, some prostrate themselves, while others make only 
a slight obeisance, like lifting the hat. 

One form of salutation would seem very odd to everybody, 
were it not so common — that of the kiss. Whoever first thought 
of saluting another person in that strange way? 

Some of the rude races have substitutes for kissing. The 
Mongols smell of the head, especially parents in meeting their 

207 



Every Life A Delight 



children. This recalls blind Isaac's method of making sure 
that Jacob was his son: "He smelt the smell of his raiment, and 
blessed him." 

The Samoans salute by juxtaposition of noses, accompanied 
not by a rub, but by a hearty smell. 

The Burmese apply the lips and nose to the cheek, and make 
a strong inhalation. 

Kissing the hand is a custom more ancient than kissing the 
lips. In remote times men saluted the sun, moon, and stars by 
kissing the hand, and persons were considered atheists who 
would not do this on entering the temple. 

Anciently, kisses had meanings: one on the beard meant 
respect; on the cheek, friendship; on the eyelids, devotion; on 
the neck, reconciliation; on the knee, subjection; on the foot, 
servitude; on the lips, love. 

The handclasp means peace and friendship. The custom of 
removing the glove before shaking hands with a woman began 
in the days of chivalry, when the glove was a steel gauntlet and 
might inflict pain. The habit of extending the right hand, 
which was the weapon hand, came about as a required security 
against treachery. 




How 'd Ye Do 




A WORDLESS MESSAGE 

A FRIENDLY TOKEN 

Only a bit of passing bloom ; 

Only a dainty rose; 
And yet its fragrance fills my room 

And o'er my spirit throws 
A sweetness which no others feel 

Save those who love as I ; 
To whom fair gifts of love appeal 

With force which can not die. 



Only a bit of passing bloom ; 

Only a rose that fades; 
And yet it keeps my heart from gloom 

My love of life it aids; 
It speaks a thought as pure as heaven 

And strong as manhood power; 
A wordless, winsome message given 

Through medium of a flower. 
209 



Every Life A Delight 



THE KISS 

A scientific theorist has suggested that Nature is the author 
of human kissing, and that men and women aped the apes in 
licking each other's lips. This is to make the monkey a more 
ingenious discoverer of delight than man. 

A classic writer thinks that possibly kissing originated with 
the young Greek shepherdess who found an opal on one of the 
hills of Greece, and, wishing to give it to a youthful shepherd, 
whose hands were occupied with his flock, she let him take it 
from her lips with his own. 

The first kiss on record dates back thirty-seven hundred 
years: "Come near now and kiss me, my son; and he came 
near and kissed him." 

The next recorded kiss had a tear in it: "And Jacob kissed 
Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept." Whether he wept 
because he kissed, or because he kissed but once, the writer does 
not say. 

In the ancient poetry the kiss of love is depicted: "Let him 
kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better than 
wine." Modern poetry has not improved much on that. 

Kissing is alleged to have been introduced into England by 
royalty. The British monarch Vortigern gave a banquet in 
honor of his Scandinavian allies, at which Rowena, the beautiful 
daughter of Hengist, "after the manner of her people," to the 
surprise of all, saluted the delighted sovereign with a kiss. 

The kiss then became instantly popular. A knight who 
visited the field of the cloth of gold, on being invited to a local 
castle, was addressed by "the kynde ladye" in this style: 

"Forasmuch as in England ye have such a custome as that 
a man may kysse a woman, therefore I will that ye shall kysse 
me, and ye shall also kysse these my maidens." 

"Which thing," adds the old historian, "ye knyghte straight- 
way did, and rejoyced greately thereat." 

Perhaps the most noted kiss of modern history was that 
given by Queen Margaret of France, in the presence of her 

210 




A DELIGHTFUL SALUTE 



The Tender Affections 



court, to Alain Chartier, "the ugliest man in the kingdom." 
Finding him asleep, she kissed him on the lips, and then explained 
to her equipage: " I do not kiss the man, but the mouth that 
has uttered so many charming things." 

Modern poets deal playfully with the kiss. They seem to 
consider it a very fit subject for fanciful remark. Thus Moore: 

"I never give a kiss," says Prue, 

"To naughty man, for I abhor it." 

She will not give a kiss, 't is true, 

She '11 take one, though, and thank you for it. 

Coventry Patmore could see only sly thoughts in kissing: 

"I saw him kiss your cheek!" 

" 'T is true." 
"O modesty!" — " 'T was strictly kept: 
He thought me asleep; at least I knew 
He thought I thought he thought I slept." 

A more open expression is given by our own American, 
Sidney Lanier, in his " Evening Song:" 

Look off, dear Love, across the sallow sands, 
And mark yon meeting of the sun and sea: 
How long they kiss in sight of all the lands! 
Ah! longer, longer we. 

Now in the sea's red vintage melts the sun, 
As Egypt's pearls dissolved in rosy wine, 
And Cleopatra's night drinks all. 'T is done. 
Love, lay thine hand in mine. 

Come forth, sweet stars, and comfort heaven's heart, 
Glimmer, ye waves, round else unlighted sands. 
O Night, divorce our sun and sky apart, — 
Never our lips, our hands. 



213 




CUPIDS TOY 



CUPID 

Even a myth has a birth, and Cupid is no exception. He 
was born at Rome, date unknown. 

Venus was his mother, and Mythology his father. He was 
reared in a bad atmosphere, and was not always a good child. 

Among his vices was that of gambling, and, according to 
John Lyly, of England, an authority 360 years ago, staked 
everything, even his eyes, on a game of cards with Campaspe, 
and lost. 

At last he set her both his eyes: 
She won, and Cupid blind did rise. 

214 



The Tender Affections 



After this calamity the little fellow made many mistakes. 
How could it be otherwise? The world was dark to him. 

Once, according to Thomas Moore, while reclining upon a 
bed of roses, he chanced upon a bee. 

The bee awaked — with anger wild — 
The bee awaked and stung the child. 

The poor little fellow suffered much, and ran to his mother 
for soothing. 

She said, "My infant, if so much 
Thou feel the little wild bee's touch, 
How must the heart, ah, Cupid! be, 
The hapless heart that 's stung by thee!" 

Cupid, like the bee, has always been a busy little chap. 
Samuel Taylor Coleridge once caught him planning "a rich 
elixir of delight" known as "kisses," and Dryden saw him 
mastering almost everybody by administering them: 

Love never fails to master what he finds, 
But works a different way in different minds, 
The fool enlightens, and the wise he blinds. 

But Cupid is not immortal. Our own William Cullen 
Bryant once beheld him as "dying and dead," and painted a 
beautiful picture of his burial. He then lamented him, thus: 

But we shall mourn him long, and miss 

His ready smile, his ready kiss, 

The patter of his little feet, 

Sweet frowns and stammered phrases sweet. 

Judging from some things we have witnessed, Cupid revived 
again, and is very much alive to-day. 



215 



Every Life A Delight 




" Let me cling 
To the raptures taking wing. 



GLANCING BACK 

Memory dreaming, happy, I 
Hail the scenes of days gone by; 
Greet the chums of other years, 
Laugh the laughter, cheer the cheers, 
Trace the journeys, laud the views, 
Cite the sayings, glean the news, 
Forward pressing, glancing back, 
Not a joy my dream doth lack. 

Memory dreaming; far away 
Pass the scenes of bygone day; 
Cheer is changing, mirth rings low, 
Laughter-echoes fainter grow; 
Landscapes fade in distant view, 

Falling comrades wave adieu ; 

Youthful faces glancing back 

Seem to whisper, "0 alack!" 

Memory dreaming, let me cling 
To the raptures taking wing, 
Flying, fading, silent, dim, 
Merry jokelet, song, and hymn. 
O, the rushing feet of Time! 
O, the clouded earthly clime ! 
Memory dreaming, glancing back 
O'er the lengthening sun-kissed track. 



THE MOORED BARK 



Dear wife, our bark is on the strand; 

Life's journey nears its close; 
The good-night sun o'er all the land 

Its lengthening shadows throws. 

216 



The Tender Affections 



What joy has thrilled us through the years 

Hard toil has been our treat: 
Few our repulses, jars, or fears; 

Our fellowship, how sweet! 

How dear the children of our heart, 

Now caring for their own! 
Each one pursues his chosen art, 

And we are left alone. 

Yet, sweet to dream of all the past, 
And gracious yet to live; 

No shadows o'er our hearts are cast- 
Trie praise to God we give. 

But now our fragile bark is moored ; 

The oar I lay aside; 
A restful voyage is assured 

On the eternal tide. 




DELIGHTFUL MEMORIES 



Every Life A Delight 



AN ANGEL'S DELIGHT 

What activity is there that would be delightful to an angel? 

Would it be a winged errand to some remote corner of the 
universe to relieve a sufferer? 

Would it be the bearing of a message of joy or power to some 
worthy aspirant for world-wide service? 

The late Dwight L. Moody thought that an angel would be 
most delighted in coming to earth to teach some poor ragged 
boy, without father or mother, the way of life, to care for him 
and guide his footsteps into the pathway of light and heart 
liberty. 

Do angels actually do anything? Do they come to earth at 
all? Are they round about us? Are they interested in our 
thoughts or actions? 

"Man hath two attendant angels 

Ever waiting by his side, 
With him wheresoe'r he wanders, 

Wheresoe r his feet abide; 
One to warn him when he darkleth, 

And rebuke him if he stray; 
One to leave him to his nature, 

And so let him go his way." 

There is pretty good authority for saying that as surely as 
angels have an existence, so surely are they given charge over 
mortals, that they excel in strength, that they fly on errands, 
that they rejoice in good, that they delight in praise, and that 
sometime humanity will be lifted to glorious association with 
them ; they are the messengers of God. 



218 




AWAKE TO HIGHER DELIGHTS 



PART FIFTH 
PLEADINGS OF THE HEART 



Who is the richest man on earth? 

Who has the most to loan? 
What opulence has greatest girth 

And brightest coins to own? 
Wealth greatest is which farthest goes, 

Which doth not from us part; 
More stable fortune no man knows 

Than wealth within his heart. 



Pleadings of the Heart 



THY HEART AND MINE 

We have hearts, and we are conscious of heart-life. We 
know that all around us are people who feel and act as if swayed 
by influences different and greater than those which come from 
physical and mental life. 

Most of these people are white (so called), some are black, 
a few are red or yellow; but all are much alike in heart-color — 
that is, they are all capable of heart development. 

And these people really differ more in the degree of their 
heart development than they do in any other way. It is this 
that makes them good or bad, acceptable or unacceptable, to 
each other. It is this, also, which differentiates them from the 
animal world; they have a moral nature; they laugh, they 
weep, they show emotion and render help as no mere animals 
can. 

They also differ from animals in their intellectual capacity. 
A dog never gets beyond his bark, but a man's progress knows 
no bounds. The degree of refinement possible to men is marvel- 
ous, and it seems to depend in no small degree upon the state 
of the heart. 

Most of us admire people who are civil, courteous, generous, 
genial, friendly, and refined; people who attend to their own 
business, go to school and to Church, may be, who work hard, 
play some, show regard for others, and act right generally. It 
takes heart to be and do all this. 

As a rule, people of well-developed heart-life get along pleas- 
antly together. They are not cruel, vengeful, intolerant, or 
barbaric. They show mercy toward each other. They have a 
spirit within them which makes them seem different from many 
of the nations that occupied the world in ancient days. 

Heart-life is what does it. There is no other instinct like 
that of the heart. A good heart is the best thing on earth. A 
bad heart is the worst. A kind heart is a fountain of gladness. 
A cruel heart is a mire-bed of terror. All human actions take 
their character from the condition of the heart. 

223 



Every Life A Delight 



The heart has cravings. It pleads for its own good. It is a 
world in itself. It is the sanctuary of God, or needs to be. It 
reaches out after the richest knowledge, the brightest light, the 
purest air, the most radiant prospect, and the surest foundation. 
There is no limit to heart experience and no end to heart longing. 



HEARTLESSNESS 

I call it heartlessness to wish 

A neighbor any ill; 
And almost heartlessness, if rich, 

The hungry not to fill. 

To know we may some help bestow 
Yet feel no wise inclined, 

Is heartlessness and deadness, too, 
And bigotry combined. 

'T is heartlessness to feel concern 

For selfish self alone ; 
To have no heart within to burn 

When righteousness has flown. 

In truth, 'tis heartlessness to live 
With undeveloped powers; 

To take all good, and never give 
The world a bit of ours. 



224 



Pleadings of the Heart 



THE MIGHTY PLEA 

"O, that I knew where I might find Him!" This is the 
mighty plea of the human heart. 

This cry was heard of old, it is heard to-day, and will be 
heard to the end of time. 

But can a man find God? Not by searching for Him; but 
he can be found of Him. 

Under latter-day unfoldings man is found of God, who re- 
veals Himself as our Father, and makes His home in the heart. 

The Mohammedans have ninety-four names for the Deity, 
but not once do they call Him "our Father." 

Until a man learns to trust in God as a child trusts in its 
father, he has not learned the secret of heart satisfaction. 

The Divine Being should have the same place in a man's 
heart that He holds in the universe; that is, He should fill it 
full; then the heart longing is stilled. 

There are only two absolutely essential things for a man to 
learn: one is, his own soul; and the other, God. The soul with 
God in it is an entity of supreme delight. 

And millions of people have learned these two essentials. 
They are just as sure of them as they are that the}* live. If 
need be, they would die to testify to these realities. 

A scientist said, in lecturing, "There is no such thing as a 
heartfelt religion." 

An auditor arose and remarked, "This learned speaker 
should have said that, so far as he knows, there is no such thing 
as a heartfelt religion." 

That reply was to the point. A great many people do not 
know that divine love may be realized in the soul ; but their not 
knowing it does not make it impossible, nor unreal to those who 
do know it. 

Therefore, to those who exclaim, "O that I knew where I 
might find Him!" an ever-enlarging number of trustworthy 
souls can humbly say, "Here, open thy heart to Him and find 
Him within thee!" 

15 225 



Every Life A Delight 



HEART TREASURES 

"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." 

Is your treasure, then, greater in pulling power than your 
heart? To a miser, yes. A miser's heart is a minor quantity; 
you could put it into a five-dollar gold-piece without making a 
dent in the coin. 

Hearts differ, and so do treasures. The latter are not all 
material; some are as luminous as air castles, and about as 
valueless. 

Some treasures are treasures of the heart, and not of the 
external world. To a man the world is his heart; to a woman 
her heart is the world. 

Alexander's heart was set on conquering the world; other 
men want to win the wealth of the world; still others would 
monopolize its pleasures. But there are those whose pleasure, 
riches, and conquests are confined to their own heart-world. 

I have ease and I have health, 

And I have spirits light as air, 
And more than wisdom, more than wealth — 

A merry heart that laughs at care. 

A good heart is worth more than gold; it makes gold; it 
commands things richer and purer than gold; it is the greatest 
treasure on earth. 

"If a good face is a letter of recommendation, a good heart 
is a letter of credit." The world has no banking house that 
will turn down a good heart, at least for long. 

Each heart is a world in itself. There are hearts stored with 
energy enough to move the world and make heaven take notice. 
There are hearts as beautiful in holiness as the heart of an 
angel, and as generous in love, within human limitations, as the 
love of God. 

There are hearts which abide in youth like sunshine and air. 
Memory may fail, wit lose its keenness, fancy its wing, and in- 
tellect its acuteness, but the heart still stands forth in all the 
freshness and beauty of life's morning hour. 

226 




BEAUTY HEART-DEEP 



Pleadings of the Heart 



Each heart is cast in its own mold and is master of the breast 
wherein it beats. No man is greater than his heart, and so far 
from commanding it, he is forced to obey it. It follows that a 
right heart is the most important thing in the world, for, "If 
wrong our hearts, our heads are right in vain." 



MY CLAIM 

I 've filed my claim to riches rare, 
The riches than can ne'er take wing, 

That none can from its owner tear, 
And none its worth away can fling. 

In archives strong my claim is writ 
In pigments that can never fade; 

With lambent flame the vault is lit, 

Unwatched by guards, secure from raid. 

No limit to my claim I place; 

The riches rise in boundless store; 
No rival's cunning scheme I trace; 

None can make less, or need make more. 

Unchanging as eternal hills, 

The riches claimed shall ever stand; 

In measureless supply it fills 

The soul, the life, the head, the hand. 

If on the earth I longer stay, 

Firm-held, much-prized shall be my claim; 
Or if through space I fly away, 

I '11 keep it near my heart the same. 



229 



Every Life A Delight 



FAITH 

Faith is the pleading of the heart for the best things. ''With 
the heart man believeth unto righteousness." There is nothing 
better than being right — righteousness. 

Faith is called "the substance of things hoped for." The 
word "substance" has solidity in it. The hopes of the believing 
heart rest upon solid foundations. 

Faith is also called "the evidence of things not seen." The 
things not seen are so vast and numberless that every sane 
man rejoices in the evidence which makes them real. 

True faith has no substitute. There is nothing that will 
serve in its place. Culture is good, but it never has satisfied the 
heart; indeed, it is possible to so sharpen the intellect that it 
will cut out the heart. 

Faith conducts us near to God. Without faith it is impos- 
sible to please God. Without pleasing God there is no permanent 
happiness for a man here or hereafter. 

Faith is the cubic root of all essentials. It is superior to any 
condition that may arise in man's life. It grasps the funda- 
mentals and holds them as with cable strength. 

When the bodily ear hears no words of encouragement ; when 
the physical eye sees no way of escape; when reason can devise 
no means of relief or comfort, faith steps in and does it all. 

Faith has lifted the sinking soul out of the mire and clay. 
Faith has arrested the stroke of wrath and saved the immortal 
spirit from death. Faith has thwarted the cunning of Satan 
and rescued unnumbered souls alive. Faith has dispelled the 
mists from the mountains of life, lifted the gloom from the 
valley of death, and given to millions of departing souls brighter 
visions of eternity. 

Have faith in God. Have it at any cost. Get it, and never 
let go of it. It is the sine qua non of happy living and holy 
dying. 



230 




FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY 



Pleadings of the Heart 



HOPE 

Hope looms higher than a wish. It has more soul in it and 
better backing behind it. 

Hope is really the inspiration of life. It is the spring of 
effort, the backbone of resolution. The hopeless are the helpless. 

In temporal affairs hope is a float. It buoys a fellow up in 
trial, cheers him in suffering, and encourages him in trouble. 

Hope is the chief blessing of man on earth. It gives him 
vision. It points a straight path. Without it the average life 
would be a continuous circling around the whirlpool of despair. 

In spiritual matters hope is an anchor. It touches the Rock. 
It gives a sense of security. It reaches into that within the veil. 
It takes hold on eternity. It lifts upward. We are saved by 
hope. 

Hope is as various as human temperament, and as diversified 
as human conditions. It is riches to the poor, solace to the 
grieving, medicine to the sick, and soothing to the w T ronged. 

Let us believe 
That there is hope for all the hearts that grieve; 

That somewhere night 
Drifts to a morning beautiful with light, 

And that the wrong, 
Though now it triumphs, wields no scepter long. 

But right will reign, 
Throned where the waves of error beat in vain. 

Hope is a primary trait, and it is contagious too. It is the 
first to give inspiration, and it is the last thing to expire. It is 
worth more than millions to the world's workers, and when it 
dies work will end. 

Hope is death's polar star. It sees light ahead. It can see 
across the deepest, coldest, dreariest, darkest river that ever 
flowed, and can see forms and hear voices in the land beyond. 
Well may we all entreat with Byron: 

Be thou the rainbow to the storms of life, 
The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, 
And tints to-morrow with prophetic ray. 
233 



Every Life A Delight 



CHARITY 

Charity is love in action, love to man springing from the 
love of God. 

Charity is the contrary of resentment and the antidote to 
indifference. It is a form of love which begets kindly interest. 

Charity is the most effective builder of heart riches known. 
No man can be poor who gives much because he loves much. 

Charity is never lost. Even though the receiver of it be an 
ingrate, the giver of it has laid up treasure in heaven. 

Charity never fails. Hope and faith may give way, but the 
practice of love has its foundation in eternal principles and must 
ever stand. 

Charity is our voucher for heaven's joy. Faith is our ticket 
of entrance, but charity implies the freedom of the city. 

Charity takes innumerable forms. Alms-giving is but a 
type, a hint, an inspiration. To put down anger, overcome 
jealousy, rise above suspicion, ignore faults, cultivate cheeriness, 
and intensify consideration for others is to become an exponent 
of charity. 

Charity is worship and service, too. To do good is an excel- 
lent form of praise. To bless many is worth more than inter- 
cessions. To show loving kindness is to proclaim the highest 
law. To relieve woe is to inaugurate heaven. 

Charity is a passport to world esteem. It is a language uni- 
versally understood. It is a garment comely in any land. It 
is a spirit that elicits smiles from all races. 

In faith and hope the world will disagree, 
But all mankind's concern is charity; 
All must be false that thwart this one great end, 
And all of God that bless mankind or mend. 



234 



Pleadings of the Heart 



CONSCIENCE 

A man's conscience is not his "better half," but his better 
self. 

Conscience, what art thou? thou tremendous power! 
Who dost inhabit us without our leave 
And art within ourselves another self, 
A master-self, that loves to domineer. 

Conscience is not only man's bosom friend, but his most 
faithful friend. 

It tells him not only to live better, but to be better. 

It not only administers judgment, but it inflicts punishment. 

It never punishes as a judge until it has first warned as a 
witness and friend. 

It never legislates; it does not make law, but prompts to 
the doing of right. 

It turns into cowards those who befoul it, but into invincibles 
those who keep it clear. 

It brings joy and peace to those who attend to its remon- 
strances, and lashes into misery those who violate it. 

It is. the biggest thing a man ever meets until he meets God. 

Luther said, " I am more afraid of my own heart than of the 
pope and all his cardinals — I have within me the great Pope, 
self." 

Consider all thy actions and take heed 
On stolen bread, tho' it is sweet to feed. 
Sin, like a bee, unto thy hive may bring 
A little honey, but expect the sting. 
Thou may'st conceal thy sin by cunning art, 
But conscience sits a witness in thy heart, 
Which will disturb thy peace, thy rest undo, 
For that is witness, judge, and prison too. 



235 



Every Life A Delight 



THE SUPREME STRUGGLE 

No person lives long in this world without struggle. Our 
environments and relationships involve rights, claims, privileges, 
obligations, and these mean severe and frequent mental struggles. 

What to do, when to do it, and when to get at it, are ques- 
tions which will and do come up in every life. 

But the supreme life struggle is in the realm of the spiritual. 
To turn from, give up, and give to mean fiery trial. 

No proud, impenitent, unbroken spirit can ever find peace 
with God. 

No cold, stubborn, rebellious heart can ever be filled with 
divine love. 

Some people seem to imagine that some day they will get 
right with God in spite of themselves. It is a vain hope. 
Coercion never comes. The Almighty never makes a machine of 
any man. A machine is not worth saving. 

Man is an intelligent, responsible creature. Truth is given 
in sufficient light to satisfy reason. The power to weigh and sift 
evidence is given to all. Every man may be a believer. 

Faith that satisfies the heart life is an exercise. It calls into 
play the liveliest and strongest faculties. It implies prompt and 
vigorous action. It not only believes, but it acts upon its own 
belief. It turns from the mud of wicked conduct and steps 
upon the Rock of eternal truth. There it rests on solid ground. 
The victory is won. 

This faith never looks backward. Its course is settled. It 
has cast the die. The supreme struggle is over. It cries out, 
"Here I take my stand; I can do no other. God is my refuge." 

Such a faith develops the soul. It rouses the will-power and 
develops spiritual principle. It fixes the purposes, and gives defi- 
nite scope to aspiration and desire. It leads to specific endeavor. 
It makes the new-found peace the controlling life motive. 

Such a faith unfolds life's true meaning. It clears up many 
mysteries. It substantiates unseen verities. It satisfies the 

236 



Pleadings of the Heart 



heart, adds value to living, and is in reality the normal condition 
of a nature formed in the image of God. The supreme struggle 
is therefore worth while. 



ENOCH GLADSON 

Here's the key to his life, and his life from the key: 

He was cheery in heart, and was oft on his knee; 

He could laugh and keep sweet, bearing trouble with grace, 

And he went to his knees with a smile on his face. 

Well acquainted with God. he would never pray long. 
But would frankly speak out in request good and strong; 
And the things that he asked, when his spirit did cry, 
Were the things of the heart in abundant supply. 

Thus he went to his toil with a soul full of light. 

And his words, like his thoughts, were uplifting and bright 

Never once in his life did he reckon with fears, 

Xor once did he foolishly give way to tears. 

Xor did cheeriness wane when his sun had climbed high; 
Even when it had set there was glow in the sky ; 
And when in the starlight his soul found release, 
His career still emitted reflections of peace. 



237 




TILL MORN THEY STRUGGLED" 



WRESTLING JACOB 



A man is wrestling in the night; 

The hours are lone and still; 
An angel that excels in might 

Is brought to do his will. 

Till morn they struggle. Every cord 
Stands out in tensest strain; 

" I will not let thee go!" the word 
Which rings across the plain. 

" Except thou bless me now and here, 

I will not let thee go; 
Thy blessing, more than life, is dear; 

I can not it forego. 

238. 



Pleadings of the Heart 



"I will not, will not thee release, 
Unless with blessing thrilled ; 

My suit can never know surcease 
Until my heart is filled." 

The man prevails; a price henceforth 

They recognize his name; 
A power with God, a prince of worth 

Who, wrestling, overcame. 

Thus every man in triumph wins 

An angel's blest supply, 
When he the stalwart strain begins — 

"I will be blest, or die!" 



239 



Every Life A Delight 



A COMPLETE LIFE 

For life in completeness a person should be naturally well- 
endowed, splendidly cultured, and richly experienced. 

This does not necessarily imply superiority of birth, ex- 
traordinary advantages in schools, nor even a superfluity of 
gifts and graces. 

Life is complete within the compass of its own inevitable 
limitations and environments, or else it can not be complete at all. 

Neither does the idea of completeness imply that a life must 
be closed, that is, lived through and finished before it can be 
pronounced complete. A babe's life, as such, may be the acme 
of completeness, and so may be that of a scholastic, or of a 
simple-minded saint. 

A complete life, full-orbed and attractive, however, does 
imply that the natural endowments, whatever they may be, 
are in normal use, that the mental equipment is in good de- 
velopment, and that the extraordinary gifts and graces which 
come only by a harmonious reconciliation of the will of the 
creature with the will of the Creator are in full realization. 

A man or woman alert to be and do all that is possible in 
the practical, civil, educational, and religious spheres of life is at 
the threshold of completeness, no matter how youthful, circum- 
scribed, or impeded. To do the best possible under all the 
conditions and circumstances is to meet the expectation of God, 
of angels, and of reasonable people. 

And there are persons who live such lives easily. They 
have come into the world with exactly the mental, spiritual, 
and physical traits which admit of such training and adaptation 
as tend to make their lives models of completeness in all that 
human beings aspire to, commend, and love. They stand out 
as "burning and shining lights," and are hailed as leaders and 
exemplars in the rare art of perfect living. They "make good" 
in all the ways recognized as the very best. They are welcomed 
to any circle because fitted for any service. Advantages and 
privileges are accorded to them because they are themselves 

240 




A SHINING LIGHT 



Pleadings of the Heart 



the makers and exponents of these things. The good they do to 
others by right living entitles them, by a sort of common con- 
sent, to large measures of the good which they thus bring into 
view. 

Such people are, as a rule, an ambitious lot. They steadily 
qualify themselves to take instant advantage of everything 
desirable that happens to come their way ; and if it does n't 
happen to come, they go after it. 

They work with whole hearts, play with whole hearts, and 
are never apathetic or cold. 

They choose the work they are best fitted for and the play 
that will bring them the greatest joy. 

They are learners, discerners, and skillful turners. They 
abound with information and are always seeking more. They 
turn every event to some kind of profit, ever growing wiser, 
better, happier, or more alert. They are always climbing up to 
richer things, or else getting down to harder, plainer, and more 
resolute everyday grinding. They are the salt of the earth all 
the time, when they are not cities set on hills where they can 
not be hid. 

It is in this way that bright names take their places in the 
calendars of saints, heroes, reformers, benefactors, teachers, and 
other worthies. Great life is first lived and then gloriously hon- 
ored. 

To live the complete life — the very highest, richest, and best 
possible to humanity — should be the ambition of each. and all. 

To be wise, true, pure, noble, useful, genuine, influential, 
and up-beckoning is a motive worthy of the highest talent and 
good enough for reward in eternity. 

To be recognized as in some degree measuring up to this 
exalted ideal is an honor worthy of royalty. 

We all know such persons. They may not be perfect, but to 
us they are complete. They live the full-orbed life, and in the 
charm of their presence we instinctively concede the possibility 
of a human being, under favorable conditions, going on to per- 
fection. 



243 



Every Life A Delighl 



A MANLY MAN 

Sing the praise of Edward Stover, 
Manly man of old Port Dover; 
True as steel to right and duty, 
Full of love for moral beauty, 
Happy in correct endeavor, 
Yielding to base passion never, 
Swayed by principle the highest, 
Moved by motive pure, unbiased. 

Sing the praise of Edward Stover, 
Worthy citizen of Dover: 
Sheltered by a modest dwelling, 
Just in buying and in selling, 
At the front in true advancement, 
Proud of every man's enhancement, 
Every cause of good assisting, 
Every evil firm resisting. 

Sing the praise of Edward Stover, 
Homely saint of old Port Dover: 
In his Church the humblest server, 
Worshiping with unfeigned fervor, 
Ne'er despising poor or lowly, 
In flaw-picking moving slowly, 
Recognizing human weakness, 
Helping all with skill and meekness. 

Sing, I say, the praise of Stover, 
Cheery man of old Port Dover: 
Up-to-date in every action, 
Taking sides with neither faction, 
Always poised to strike for freedom, 
Using means as he might need 'em, 
Learning with the best of learners, 
Quickest of the quick discerners. 
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Pleadings of the Heart 



TRUTH 

Man should be established in truth, for truth is man's 
friend. Truth is a safe guide. Truth opens the doors of eternal 
life. Truth satisfies both heart and mind. 

Error has destroyed her thousands, but truth has never 
harmed one. Truth conducts her votaries to victory and to God. 

Truth is straightforward. Error makes zigzag lines, but 
truth is always forging straight ahead. 

Truth has fiber in it. You can not break it easily, nor crush 
it. 

Truth is precious. It is as pure as gold, and every filing of 
it has value. 

Truth is not always welcome, and is sometimes strange, but 
is never treacherous, and never forsakes man unless driven away. 

Truth is glorious. It is hoary with age, bright with youth, 
buoyant with strength, and serene with immortality. 

Truth is triumphant. It never knows defeat. It may be 
opposed but not deposed, cast down but not destroyed, cut to 
pieces but not annihilated. 

Time is the best friend of truth, prejudice her greatest 
enemy, humility her most constant companion, and conceit her 
most contemptible critic. 

Truth is a thing of life. It strengthens by being lived. 
Whoso practices truth gains more truth. 

Truth is sublime in itself. It needs no accretions. The 
plainer it is, the greater its sublimity. 

Truth is independent. It is pleasant to have truth on our 
side, but safer to be on the side of truth. 

Truth should be kept in view. It may lead away from man's 
favor, but it is sure to conduct to God's throne. 

Truth is a matter of the inward parts. It is the man that 
"speaketh the truth in his heart" that shall abide in the holy 
hill. 



245 




"She Practiced What She Preached' 



REV. DEBORAH TRUEHEART 

She faced a world of prejudice, and met with bitter scorn, 
As bravely she the gospel preached, and aided the forlorn; 
She married folks, and ministered to hearts bereaved by death; 
Consoled the sick and suffering e'en to their dying breath. 



"She's out of place," the critics said; "no woman ought to 

preach," 
But all the same she preached the Word to all within her reach; 
She preached it publicly sometimes, and personally too; 
And practiced what she preached as well as any man could do. 

246 



Pleadings of the Heart 



Day after day, year after year, her calling she pursued ; 
The most depraved and wickedest to Jesus Christ she wooed; 
She gained respect and love of all as to her motive pure, 
And kept attention pointed to God's lasting moral cure. 

In course of time her lovely brow was crowned with snowy 

hair; 
Her beaming countenance betrayed a life-long load of care-, 
Yet on her lips the gospel tale was ever fresh and new, 
The "dead line" in her brave career could never come in view. 

And those who once had scorned her work, preferring preacher 

men, 
Would often say, when she had called, "I wish she'd come 

. again;" 
She was so true a minister none could her "call" gainsay; 
The good she did was manifest unto her dying day. 



EXPERIENCE 

The deeper you go in some mines, the richer the ore you find. 
Deep ore beds are considered permanent and of great value. 

Heart experience which is deep is likewise precious and 
stable. Mere feeling does not disturb it; ridicule can not reach 
it ; opposition deepens it. "I know whom I have believed." This 
is positive testimony supporting deep experimental truth. 

Experience gives practical wisdom. It has in it the test of 
trial. It can bear responsibility and suffering. 

Heart experience shows what faith can do, for it is itself the 
fruit of faith. By faith are ye saved. 

Heart experience fosters concern for the welfare of others, 
and in lifting them up, it augments its own delight. 

Heart experience brings a consciousness of divinity within, 
cherishing, inspiring, enlightening, endearing, and enduring, 
forming a relationship more intimate and sweet than that of 

247 



Every Life A Delight 



friend with friend. "There is none upon earth whom I desire 
beside Thee." 

Heart experience brings courage for any rightful undertak- 
ing. No man who knows that God is with him can be a moral 
coward. 

Heart experience insures inward bliss. It means finding 
bliss at the Infinite Source of all bliss. There is no other way 
known to men so surely and invariably delightful. 



FRIEND OR FOE, WHICH? 

Friend and foe are opposites. No man can be my friend and 
at the same time my foe. 

Likewise my friend can not be the friend of my foe. If he 
is with me, he is not with my enemy. 

In ancient story we are told of a man who was "the friend 
of God." That man's biography shows that he was never the 
friend of God's enemies. 

The Divine Master said, "Ye are My friends if ye do what- 
soever I command you." One of His commands is to "Leave all 
and follow Me." 

To obey this command is to become a friend of the Master. 
The obedience implies two things: (1) Separation from the 
Master's enemies, whether evil men, evil principles, or evil 
practices. 

It is related of Hamilcar, the famous Carthagenian, that he 
conducted his young son, Hannibal, to the temple of their god 
and then, placing the child's hand on the altar, made him swear 
to be an eternal foe to the Romans, the enemies of their country. 

Hannibal kept that vow, for never did Roman emperor have 
a more determined foe. 

So when a man becomes the friend of God he is expected 
to swear on the altar perpetual enmity to all that God hates, 
whether it be found in his own heart or the hearts of others. 

(2) Obedience implies consecration to the Master's service, 
and this involves doing all we can for Him. 

248 



Pleadings of the Heart 



Some of the pupils of Socrates, who were greatly attached 
to him, agreed to give him a present, each one as he was able. 

The pupils who possessed wealth brought costly gifts, others 
less able brought humble offerings, and at length all had given 
something excepting one young man, w T ho approached the 
philosopher and said: 

"My master, I love you as much as any of your pupils can, 
and am deeply sensible of my obligations to you, but I am too 
poor to purchase anything worthy of your acceptance, so I will 
give you myself. I will be your servant, and by loving, faithful 
labors I will try to make some returns for your goodness to me." 

Socrates, deeply moved, replied: " I gladly accept your offer- 
ing — you shall be mine — and I promise to return you to your- 
self a great deal better than you are now." 

Socrates meant that, by strict discipline and training, he 
would correct what was imperfect in the young man, and make 
him all that it was possible for him to become. 

So there are some persons who can not place on God's altar 
great wealth, nor bright gifts, but they can give themselves, 
than which there is no offering more acceptable. 

All persons who do this are assured of becoming far better 
than otherwise they ever can be, and of enjoying a friendship 
than which there is none higher, more exalting, more satisfactory, 
or promiseful. 

" Henceforth I call you My friends." What if the greatest 
Monarch of earth should say that to us? 



The friend of God reaps endless good, 
Although he sows in tears; 

Eternal peace beyond the flood 
Of life's turmoil and fears. 



249 



Every Life A Delight 



A NEW HEART 

"Out of the heart are the issues of life." If those "issues" 
are not happy, the heart itself should be changed. 

That the heart can be radically changed has been known for 
at least three thousand years, when a famous king cried, "Create 
in me a clean heart," and, later, "He hath put a new song in 
my mouth." 

About a thousand years later still a certain officer named 
Nicodemus approached a certain great Teacher under cover of 
night to pay Him a compliment, and the Teacher said: 

"Ye must be born again." 

The officer responded in effect: "It is absurd; physical con- 
ditions make a new birth impossible." 

But the Teacher suggested, "Born of the Spirit." 

Some years later than this a world-famed scholar who had 
been wondrously led to talk about new things, framed from his 
own experience such phrases as these: "A new creature," "the 
new man," "Behold, all things are become new." 

And through all the centuries since there have been found 
many excellent people, some of them very prominent, who 
have talked much about the new heart and the new life, as if 
they are among the most common and enjoyable of all the 
experiences of earth. 

Thus the poet : 

Take my soul and body's powers: 
Take my memory, mind, and will: 
All my goods, and all my hours, 
All I know, and all I feel: 
All I think, or speak, or do; 
Take my heart, but make it new. 

That poet found his quest, and to his dying day sang praises 
about the cheeriness of his own soul, made so by the God of his 
life. 



250 



Pleadings of the Heart 



SEARCH FOR THE ABIDING 

Though a transitory being upon the earth, man is ever 
searching for the permanent and abiding, and nothing else seems 
to satisfy his longings. 

In this world everything is changing. The mountains are 
washing down. Inland seas are drying up. The Niagara gorge 
is growing longer. The seasons vary with the cycles. Even the 
sun is growing cold. Man dieth and wasteth away. Mutation 
is written upon all things. 

Yet man courts that which will stay, and he finds consolation 
in nothing else. Search where he will, all is passing, passing, 
even the searcher himself. 

There are two things, however, which have staying qualities 
in them, and they are backed up by the oath of God. One of 
them is the character of Christ, and the other is the hope of His 
followers. For nineteen hundred years these things have not 
changed one iota, and should the world stand thousands of 
years longer, they will still be "immutable" and furnish their 
"strong consolation." 

And these immutable things are as inspiring as they are 
permanent. The progress and heroism of the world have grown 
out from them, and they stand forth to-day as the strongest 
incentives to useful living and noble daring which mankind has. 

An Eternal Savior and an Immortal Hope. These are the 
rocks of refuge standing high above the world's mortalities and 
vicissitudes. They loom up like beacons on dangerous shores, 
as guides to safety and unbounded comfort. 

Mighty men of faith and action whose records live like the 
years of God have steered their barks by these fadeless lights 
and have found secure anchorage beyond the storms of life. 

No trustworthy substitutes for these established verities 
have ever yet been found, and really none are needed. Thele 
satisfy. They take on strength with duration, for they have 
in them the elements of eternity. 

251 



Every Life A Delight 



ANGEL OF THE EARTH 

Sweet Mercy! Spirit of the skies, 
Our troubled earth o'er-hovering; 

On thee the helpless soul relies 
When from its woes recovering. 

Uplifted, bending to our need, 

In tenderness unfailing, 
Regardless of our guilt or creed, 

Our fainting hope regaling. 

In beauteous form, with gentle tread, 

And silent ministration; 
With eye undimmed, divinely led, 

Bestowing consolation. 

Since time began and misery reached 

The range of human action, 
Thou hast to such as have beseeched 

Brought boundless benefaction. 

Thou breath of God, enrobed in light, 

In essence pure and holy; 
Familiar with Empyrean height 

And earthly vale most lowly, 

On thee we fix our dying thought, 

As closes life's reliance; 
The sweetest peace to mortals brought 

Comes through thy mystic science. 

Thou peerless angel of the earth — 
Supremest friend of friendless — 

We crown thee queen! To death, from birth, 
Yielding devotion endless ! 
252 









SPIRIT OF THE SKIES 



Pleadings of the Heart 



PATH AMONG THE STARS 

Afar in the ethereal blue, 

Where stars their vigils keep, 

A path awaits the brave and true 
Up the eternal steep. 

Into that path our feet will turn 

When we pursue our quest, 
And through exalting influence yearn 

To gain those hills of rest. 

Then fitting gifts and virtues rare 

Our spirits will adorn, 
As in firm faith the heights we dare 

And toward the stars are borne. 

And some near day, refined and tried, 

By discipline made bright, 
Uplifted in the ether tide, 

We'll take the final flight. 

Earth will grow dim; the moon will wane 

The sun in space recede; 
While we among the stars shall train 

In high celestial deed. 



255 



Every Life A Delight 



LIGHT AT EVENING 

How calm the evening! see the falling day 
Gilds every mountain with a ruddy ray ! 
In gentle sighs the softly whisp'ring breeze 
Salutes the flowers, and waves the trembling trees. 

At evening time it shall be light. Millions of people have 
found it so, although throughout life's day they have dreaded 
the shadows at its close. 

When a leaf is new and green it clings to the stem, but when 
it becomes brown and sere it easily drops away. 

In the morning of life man dreads to die, but as age abates 
his strength he usually cares less about the inevitable end. 

Bishop Home uses this figure: "When we rise fresh and 
vigorous in the morning, the world seems fresh, too, and we 
think we shall never be tired of business or pleasure; but by 
the time the evening is come, we find ourselves heartily so; we 
quit all our enjoyments readily and gladly; we retire willingly 
into a little cell; we lie down in darkness, and resign ourselves 
to the arms of sleep, with perfect satisfaction and complacency. 
Apply this to youth and old age — life and death." 

There are exceptions, however, to this rule. The longer some 
people live, the more they want to live, especially while they 
can be active, comfortable, and happy. And surely it is a 
legitimate wish that after a long life of hard work there should 
be an evening time of serenity and sweetness, and such enjoy- 
ments as are suitable to waning vitality and ripening emotions. 
A great many aged men and women have better times than pity- 
ing youth may surmise. 



156 



Pleadings of the Heart 



THE LIFE IMMORTAL 

The idea of immortality meets the cravings of all rational 
minds. There is no sweeter thought than that of living forever. 

There are three aspects of immortality, any one of which is 
a striking feature. 

1. There is the idea of undying existence. How beautiful 
to think that "there shall be no more death!" 

2. The undying existence is to be continuous. There will 
be no break in it. The body dies, but the soul lives on. 

3. This continuous, deathless existence will be incorruptible. 
"This corruption must put on incorruption." 

Connected with every phase of the doctrine of a future life 
there are difficulties; but faith overcomes them. 

The believer has no more difficulties to contend with than 
the unbeliever, nor as many. 

It is now held that materialism is an impossible interpreta- 
tion of the mental life, and the idea of it seems to be vanishing 
from solid rational thought. 

On the other hand, it seems to be conceded that the doctrine 
of a future life is not contrary to established facts of science 
and philosophy. 

Nothing is known which forbids the hope of surviving death 
in permanent and glorious life. 

The human mind instinctively protests against annihilation, 
while New Testament hope fills the soul with joy and peace. 

Man is constituted with an aspiration for life in the presence 
of the great Life-giver. "My soul thirsteth for God." 

Immortality alone explains and justifies the existence of man 
and the universe. "We are the people of His pasture." 

Rev. Edward Judson once said, "The soul is the enigma; 
God and immortality are the solution." 

Hence the familiar words of Young: 

'T is immortality — 't is that alone 
Amid life's pains, abasements, emptiness, 
The soul can comfort, elevate, and fill; 
That only, and that amply, this performs. 
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Every Life A Delight 



THE WORLD NOT SEEN 

They tell me of a fadeless world, 

Unseen by mortal eyes, 
Where life's bright emblem ne'er is furled 

Beneath the cloudless skies. 

They tell me of its river clear 

Of ever-flowing life, 
Where beauteous, blooming trees appear 

With leaves of healing rife. 

No sickness there- — -they tell me so; 

No fear, nor death, nor tears; 
No pain nor sorrow, want nor woe, 

Through the unending years. 

They tell me of its glad new songs; 

Of songsters clothed in white ; 
Of happy, growing, glowing throngs 

Of new-born sons of light. 

The present world I know and see, 

Its keen emotions feel; 
Its life and love appeal to me, 

Attractive, sweet, and real. 

And can it be that, hid from view, 

There is a brighter clime, 
With life forever young and new, 

Untouched by ruthless Time? 

I want to know, for grasp is light 

On what I cherish here; 
I soon must leave each fond delight, 

And all I hold most dear. 
260 



Pleadings of the Heart 



So tell me of that world unseen! 

Unfold its glories bright! 
Assure me of its life serene, 

With neither death nor night. 

I want to see its rivers flow, 

To hear its people sing; 
Among its sunlit hills to go, 

And to its raptures cling. 

I want to breathe its balmy air, 

And feel its vigor thrill, 
Its perfect rest and pleasure share, 

And all its end fulfill. 

I want to live where grief is not, 

Where love by love is met; 
Where futile tears can never blot 

A record of regret. 

Then tell me of that unseen world, 
WTiere life immortal blooms; 

Where darts of death are never hurled, 
And people build no tombs. 



261 



Every Life A Delight 



THE COMING CREED 

"Faith of our fathers!" Sweet the tone 

Of loyal pledge to martyr creed; 
Nor can the sons the faith disown 

That speaks the world's supremest need. 

"We will be true!" Though sword and fire 

In crucial test no longer flash; 
Base passion's slaves fill dungeons dire, 

And spirit foes in conflict clash. 

Truth, then, must live, though forms decay, 
And living truth meet deathless need ; 

Man freed, love throned, death shorn, must stay 
As substance of the coming creed. 

So perish prisons, fire, and sword! 

Devotion, love, and faith live on! 
Survive the Spirit and the Word 

Till guilt and wrong and woe are gone I 



THE LAST HOUR 

Youth views life's final, parting hour 

As aeons yet away; 
Kind Nature doth the soul empower 

To dream of life for aye; 
Far off drear age, cold death, the grave; 

Afar the vacant chair ; 
Far off the swell of sorrow's wave, 

The solemn hymn and prayer. 

In manhood, too, the funeral dirge 

Seems yet a distant note ; 
In healthful tone life's forces surge: 

The end appears remote ; 
262 



Pleadings of the Heart 



Strangers may die, some friends may fail 

Children may wed and go ; 
Yet strength and love and hope prevail 

Against the final foe. 

But tottering age, in swift-winged years, 

Finds changed the point of view; 
The haze on evening landscape clears, 

E'en sunsets now are new; 
The dreamless sleep can not be far; 

Vain, vain to quail or cower! 
Sad, sad, should mortal terrors mar 

The peace of life's last hour! 




" The Inexorable Reaper 



Every Life A Delight 



THE FIRST HOUR BEYOND 

If death be naught but change of state, 

And conscious life flow on, 
What new bright scenes our souls await 

When we from earth have gone! 

How look the skies to spirit eye? 

What find we first in air? 
How will it seem to mount and fly? 

Have spirits fear or care? 

How strange to see the earth recede, 

The sun's far side to view; 
To race through space at comet-speed 

And bid the stars adieu ! 

Will there be bound to spirit-flight? 

Will there be need of rest? 
How soon God's city shall we sight, 

And nestle on His breast? 

What is the tone of angel voice? 

How look the harps of gold? 
Can spirits just arrived rejoice 

With all the saints of old? 

Shall we meet friends of other years 
The moment we take wing? 

How speak our joy, if not in tears, 
As to their hearts we cling? 

If we within one hour beyond 
May heavenly heights explore, 

O then, what flights and visions fond 
In endless ages more! 
264 




SiTLtmlTiyirs JiUKfUUl* 



PART SIXTH 
THE DEPRESSING FACTORS 



In rough-plowed fields of pain or woe 
Our rich delights we glean ; 

Few hearts can e'er a rapture know 
Except through anguish keen. 



The Depressing Factors 



AFFLICTIONS 

Humanity has always been a sufferer. The records show- 
one poor fellow of four thousand years ago the victim of horrible 
ulcers covering his whole body. His nurse could not stay near 
him. Even his wife, standing at a distance from the stench, 
told him to "Curse God and die." 

But the fellow would not curse. He dressed his own wounds, 
refused to repine, and wrote a book on patience that has blessed 
lots of people and made his name immortal. Everybody knows 
Job. 

The truth is, there are few afflictions which have no com- 
pensations. In 1750 John Brown, himself diseased and half- 
deranged, was moved to pen these lines: 

Now, let us thank the Eternal Power, convinced 
That heaven tries our virtue by affliction's ways; 
That oft the cloud which wraps the present hour 
Serves but to brighten all our future days. 

A great many noble people have gone under affliction's 
cloud, yet have come out from it bright and shining. 

There was Dr. Samuel Johnson, the great lexicographer, 
whose face was utterly disfigured by malignant scrofula, injur- 
ing both his sight and hearing; yet he would not give up, and 
at the age of sixty-seven took up the study of Greek and Latin, 
finding worlds of satisfaction in it. In his old age he read the 
JEnid through in twelve nights, fairly gloating over the pleasure 
of it, and six months before his death, which occurred from a 
surgical operation for the relief of his dropsy, he requested a 
distinguished musician to teach him the scales of music, saying 
that he would find "the pleasure of a new sense in it." 

Then there was the good and great Dr. Taylor Lewis, "as 
deaf as a post," yet a mighty scholar and a very useful man. 
Also Dr. John Kitto, who referred to the solitude of his own spirit 
with such evident painfulness, who had lost the power of hear- 
ing when twelve years of age, yet became a bright litterateur 
himself, and a great helper to other men of letters. 

269 



Every Life A Delight 



The world is full of afflicted people. Hardly one person in a 
hundred is perfectly sound. Our most common form of saluta- 
tion, "How are you?" affords a chance for numberless com- 
plaints. It is a relief to hear the glad response, " I am well." 

Afflictions seem to be beneficial to some people. 

" The good are better made by ill, 
As odors crushed are sweeter still." 

As a gem is polished by friction, so a man is often brightened 
by affliction. 

Our poet Longfellow made this confession: "It has done 
me good to be somewhat parched by the heat and drenched by 
the rain of life." 

Most of us do not want to be too much sun-burned nor pelted 
too hard by storms, but a little of the rough won't hurt us. 

"The soul that suffers is stronger than the soul that re- 
joices." Just as a sweeping wind toughens the fibers of the oak, 
so the cyclones of pain and grief may settle us in our places 
and make us more serviceable to somebody. 

Sometimes affliction serves to discover to us our weakness, 
and we are then helped to find a cure, and so the outcome is 
good. 

At any rate, afflictions will and do come, and whether light 
or heavy, we have got to bear them, or get rid of them, and we 
may as well do so cheerfully. 



THE JOY OF TEARS 

We weep for joy, not grief, 

The joy of sweet relief 
From pains acute and heartaches; 

We weep for love, not hate, 

Love of emotion great, 
When life in misery partakes. 
270 



The Depressing Factors 



Tears supplement our smiles! 

Their presence ne'er denies 
The fountains of our gladness; 

They flow and cleanse and cure, 

Make sorrow's remnant pure, 
And check our moods of badness. 

Our tears are drops of power! 

They form the softening shower 
Which sprouts the seeds of heaven- 

The seeds implanted deep, 

For harvest soon to reap, 
In comfort angel-given. 

Tears beautify the face! 

Think of a tearless race, 
Without one tender feeling! 

What frozen hearts were there ! 

What risings of despair, 
In plights the blood congealing! 

The tearless grief inflames! 

It bleeds within, and maims 
The buoyant normal spirit. 

Ope wide the ducts ! Let flow 

The stream of inward woe, 
Nor ever scorn or fear it! 

Give joyous thanks for tears, 
The counterparts of fears; 

They serve their own blest mission. 
Tears last but for their day, 
Our God shall wipe away 

All tears of sad contrition. 



271 



Every Life A Delight 



IN SILENCE AND DARKNESS 

Total blindness is, perhaps, the saddest physical affliction 
that can befall a human being. 

Never to see the sunshine, the landscape, the water, the faces 
of friends, ah! this is terrible. 

Next in sadness to complete blindness is absolute deafness. 

Never to hear the voices of kindred, the song of birds, the 
murmur of the breeze, the ripple of the stream, ah! this is also 
terrible. 

But when these terrible afflictions are visited upon one per- 
son, what language can portray the pitiableness of the double 
calamity? 

In Helen Adams Keller the two afflictions unite. She was 
deprived of the power of vision and of hearing at the tender age 
of nineteen months. She has no recollection of ever looking 
upon an object or of hearing a human voice. 

Miss Keller was born at Tuscumbia, Ala., June 27, 1880, 
and first gained a sense of abstract ideas through the instruction 
of Miss Anna Mansfield Sullivan, now better known as Mrs. 
Macy, who still attends her as an indispensable companion. 

At the age of twenty, when she had well begun to think for 
herself, Miss Keller entered Radclifre College, and, after a hard 
struggle with her disabilities, was graduated with honor as 
A. B. in 1904. 

The fact that she can now in public or private speak quite 
fluently, with a voice that carries quite a distance and in lan- 
guage easily understood, expressing original ideas with clearness 
and discussing current events intelligently, is, as it has well been 
called "a modern miracle," and nothing like it in all the history 
of education was ever before achieved. 

Miss Keller is a typical American girl, or would be if her 
sight and hearing were normal. She is above medium height, 
rather slender in person, with an expressive countenance and a 
warm, cheery manner. 

272 



The Depressing Factors 



She does a great deal of literary and platform work, and has 
been widely heralded as "the best known woman in the world." 

A great future is before her. She has an indomitable will and 
unlimited energy, and she thinks and speaks for herself. 

She is quick in answering any questions that may suddenly 
be propounded to her, and her replies indicate mastery in thought 
and language. 

When applauded, she pauses for the sounds to subside, and 
she declares that she can hear applause with her feet, feeling 
the vibration of the floor, and also feeling the stir of air upon 
her face. 

She distinguishes the difference betwixt daylight and dark- 
ness by noticing that the light is warmer and makes her feel 
brighter, and that there are more odors in the air. 

She says that she can "taste" her food by smelling it, since 
the faculty of taste was destroyed with her sight and hearing. 

By feeling of the face and hands of a friend she can tell 
whether the individual is glad or sad, and sometimes can guess 
the subject of conversation. 

In her public addresses she often affirms that we are all 
bound together in this world; that we live by each other and 
for each other; and that we are dependent on each other for all 
the joy or sorrow we have. She particularly rejoices when in 
any way she can bring a ray of light to other souls. 

"Are there not those," she sometimes asks, "who look up 
at the stars without emotion?" Yet she will reply, "They shine 
in my thoughts forever, though as yet I have not caught their 
faintest gleam." 

Miss Keller is a hopeful soul, taking optimistic views of life, 
and uttering many thoughts calculated to cheer those around her. 
It is told that at a tea in Boston she took to task a novelist who 
had become pessimistic because his last book had fallen flat. 

"You say we have outgrown our illusions," she remarked, 
"but is not that the greatest illusion of all?" 

Few people who see and hear perfectly could formulate so 
apt and poetic an epigram. 

18 273 



Every Life A Delight 



HELEN ADAMS KELLER 

Blind and deaf ! And once was dumb ! 
Yet seeing worlds, and hearing all 
The music of the spheres! 

A world within ; a world of heart ; 
A soul attuned to higher harmonies 
Than those of earth. A voice acquired, 
And speech that all can understand. 
A spirit rich in wealth that lasts. 
A mind with forceful thought endowed. 
A leader in the happy life. A form 
Commanding, graceful, pleasing to the sight. 
A face expressive of a will to win. 

Blind and deaf! O God! 
Is mercy dead with Thee? Thy creature 
Sightless in a soundless world ! 
Is human pity greater than divine? 

Hush, my soul! This maiden fair has life 
Where heaven ever touches earth. Where eyes 
And ears are both eclipsed 
By vision more exalted, and by melody 
That flows from an ethereal harp. 
Her heaven begins before her flesh can fail. 
She dwells in bowers of beauty all her own. 
She sees what natural eye can not — 
The beauty which angelic minds admire. 

Love her! Laud her! Mistress of the art 
Of mastery in life's divinest things! 



274 




OLIVER GOLDSMITH 



MARRED, YET UNDAUNTED 



Any man who can, in forty-six years of life, immortalize his 
own name, and do it, too, with the pen, not the sword, must be 
a genius. 

Oliver Goldsmith, the talented Irishman, did this. Though 
poverty-stricken in youth and a spendthrift in manhood, his 
brilliant mind was, nevertheless, a passport to high circles. 

Possibly his own misfortunes tended to give him mastery. 
While yet a schoolboy he was stricken with small-pox, which so 
disfigured his face that he was obliged to abandon his youthful 
companionships and seek private tuition. This source of life- 
long sadness did not daunt him, however; he had set out to win 
a place in the world, and win it he did. 

He traveled much, once starting for America, but he missed 
his ship and returned home penniless. 

275 



Every Life A Delight 



For a time he practiced medicine, but his fees were small, 
and he suffered for the necessaries of life. 

Sometimes he would pawn his own clothes and borrow 
others. Sometimes he could pay his room rent only by writing 
articles which his landlord had to sell as best he could. 

But he was a warm-hearted fellow, jovial in disposition, and 
made friends easily. 

From childhood he had shown a literary tendency, scribbling 
verses before he was seven years old, and writing street ballads 
when yet in his teens, selling them at a dollar each to obtain 
means of subsistence. 

He also told stories, played the flute, sang songs, and did 
almost anything to earn a penny and win popular confidence. 

Before the age of thirty-five he brought out "The Traveler," 
and everybody praised the book.. Then followed "The Vicar 
of Wakefield," and soon- that almost peerless poem, "The 
Deserted Village." 

His fame spread far, his income grew large, his expenditures 
larger, -and his friends became legion. His name was on every- 
body's lips. 

When he died, as some thought, through worry over his 
debts, public grief was intense. Old and infirm people sobbed 
on the stairs of his apartments. The good Doctor Johnson 
grieved in bitter silence. The impassioned Burke burst into 
tears, and Sir Joshua Reynolds dropped his pencil, left his 
studio, and abandoned himself to sorrow. Success can be won 
in spite of drawbacks when a strong man so wills. 



276 



The Depressing Factors 



DISAPPOINTMENTS 

Here is the testimony of an old man: "When I was young, 
I was poor; when old I became rich; but in each condition I 
found disappointment, for when I had the faculties for enjoy- 
ment, I had not the means; when the means came, the faculties 
were gone." 

Perhaps no man of caliber ever gets far on his way without 
meeting with bitter, soul-searching disappointment. It seems 
to be the common lot. 

They who expect much never get all, while those who look 
for little seldom find that. 

Many men strive earnestly to be successful, and often almost 
achieve it, only to have their hopes dashed to the ground by 
some adverse fortune, and they go down to their graves feeling 
that they have never been appreciated, or accorded their just 
dues. 

Were an example to be chosen to illustrate this fact, it 
might be that of John Fitch, an American inventor who was 
one of the first to think about the use of steam. 

One Sunday in April, 1785, Fitch was walking to church 
when some wealthy people dashed by him in a chaise, and the 
thought came to him, why not get up a machine that would go 
without a horse to draw it? 

He accordingly went to work that same week upon a steam 
road-wagon, but when the bad roads were suggested to him, he 
applied his ingenuity to a steamboat, and actually constructed 
one that ran eight miles an hour, making its first trip from 
Philadelphia to Burlington in 1786. 

He then formed a steam-packet company, but it soon failed. 
He next went to France to try his steam navigation projects 
there, but did not succeed. 

The world was not ready for such improvements, and John 
Fitch's hopes were sadly blighted. After varying fortunes, 
mostly misfortunes, he died in Ohio, leaving this request: 

"Bury me on the banks of the Ohio, that I may lie where 

'277 



Every Life A Delight 



the song of the boatman will enliven the stillness of my resting- 
place, and the music of the engines soothe my spirit." 

This was construed as a mournful prophecy, which he had 
once formulated in words, that his invention would yet be 
adopted and make some one else rich. 



MISTAKES 

Who has not made mistakes? And who has not suffered in 
mind because of them? 

The mistakes of my life have been many, 
The sins of my heart have been more; 

And I scarce can see for weeping, 
But I '11 enter that open door. 

A woman who had married unfortunately, on celebrating her 
silver wedding, said sadly, "Twenty-five years of mistake." 

Other women, and men, too, could tell of similar heartaches 
if they would. 

Heartaches, however, often bring their own correction. 
Gladstone allowed that no man ever became great or good ex- 
cept through many and grievous mistakes. 

Persons who make no mistakes never make anything. Show 
me a man who never blunders and I '11 show you a man who 
never thunders. 

There is one way of avoiding mistakes, and that is, to die. 

Persons who claim to make no mistakes probably make 
more than others. 

The worst mistake any one can make is to derive no profit 
from those made. 

Cicero remarked that any man can make a mistake, but 
only a fool will continue it. 

The trouble with most people is that, if they do not repeat 
old mistakes, they make enough new ones to keep themselves 
in a pickle. 

The humorist very fittingly remarked, "It is probably just 
as well that a man's facilities for kicking himself are hopelessly 
inadequate." 278 




RICHES TAKE WINGS 



LOSSES 



Perhaps the most helpful lessons learned in this world are 
from misfortunes and losses, not from successes and gains. 

Many people do not seem to know what value and blessing 
really are until deprived of them, and then they are disconsolate. 

It takes heavy losses sometimes to bring men to their senses, 
so that they begin to realize that every hold on earthly things 
is uncertain and disappointing. 

Losses, in the order of their importance, may be enumerated 
as, loss of character, loss of reputation, loss of health, loss of 
property, and loss of ease. 

279 



Every Life A Delight 



There are people to whom the loss of property seems the 
hardest to bear of anything. Thousands of hearts, those of 
women as well as men, have been utterly broken by calamities 
which have swept only their possessions away, not themselves. 

And in many of these cases imagination has really wrought 
more injury to the broken-hearted than did the calamity itself. 
The sense of disgrace, fear of want, despair of reparation, and 
forced changes in situations have all combined to deepen the 
misery and dishearten the spirit. 

Losses are usually felt most severely when they come in 
advanced life, when weakness and infirmity make new accumula- 
tion impossible. 

Happy the old man who, in time of calamity, has brave and 
sensible sons to rally to his aid, cheer him up, promise him relief, 
and vow to support him any way. The beauty of youth never 
appears to better advantage than when ministering consolation 
to faithful but unfortunate parents who are deprived of income 
and home and comfort by shocking reverses. 

Of all the material losses known to life, perhaps the greatest 
loss of all is inability to bear the loss heroically, or at least 
philosophically. In the order of events, men have to let go of 
things anyway; why should they become embittered, frenzied, 
and despairing because the blow may happen to fall a few 
months or years before they expected it? 

That old adage, "He who foresees calamities suffers them 
twice over," has a counterpart in this, "He who allows calamities 
to ruin his life is doubly ruined." 



280 



The Depressing Factors 



LONELINESS 

The world is full of lonely hearts. Some are made lonely 
by the ravages of death, some by misfortune, and some by their 
own strange moods. 

Endearing companionships on earth are rare, yet without 
them life is very apt to be an experience in isolation of spirit. 

Many people fail to find kindred spirits, and others lose 
them after finding them. Satisfactory friendships are as frail 
as they are few. 

Broken hearts are all around us : disconsolate Rachels weep- 
ing for their children; widowed women, tearful in their gloom; 
innocent children crying in the night and crying in the light for 
the parent that can never return. 

I 'm lonely since my mother died, 

Though friends and kindred gather near; 

I can not check the rising tide, 
Xor stay the falling of a tear. 

But there is one good feature about loneliness — it can not 
be handed down to others. We shall perhaps each be lonely in 
turn, but our personal loneliness will go into the grave with us. 
What a fine arrangement that is! Sufficient unto each life is 
the loneliness thereof. 



281 




COURTESY LESLIE'S WEEKLY. COPYRIGHTED IS 



THE TITANIC'S TERRIBLE DOOM 

At midnight, April 14, 1912, the largest and finest ship in the world, 
built at the cost of eight million dollars, struck an iceberg four hundred miles 
off the coast of Newfoundland and later sank. About twenty- two hundred 
persons were on board, of whom about sixteen hundred perished. The 
calamity produced a heartache as widespread and lasting as any of history. 

282 



The Depressing Factors 



THE TITANIC 

Deep down in ocean cavern vast, 

Forever hid from view, 
The peerless ship is rudely cast, 

With passengers and crew. 

No more her pennants bright shall wave! 

No more her lights shall shine ! 
No monument can mark her grave 

In that exploreless brine. 

Around her proud and stately sides 

Deep-ocean eddies play, 
Where, in the cold and murky tides, 

Sea-monsters sport and prey. 

Roll on, O waves! her requiem sing! 

Keep silence, caverns deep! 
The while her dead together cling 

In long and dreamless sleep. 

And as the future ages roll, 
Till seas shall yield their dead, 

Titanic's fate shall stir the soul 
With horror keen and dread. 



283 



Every Life A Delight 



REGRET 

O depth of grief ! O pain of mind ! 

longing for the vanished hand! 
sorrow keen ! O woe enshrined ! 

O record that must ever stand! 

What joy was mine! What dear concern! 

What satisfaction in my own ! 
But now what fires of anguish burn 

Where once such sweetness had its throne! 

O mourning deep for heartless Avord ! 

O penitence for blind neglect! 
fell remorse by memory stirred, 

For love and trust so rudely wrecked! 

O idol of my heart, return! 

Let me but speak the word once spurned! 
Let me recall the words I mourn ! 

Let me but act on truth since learned ! 

Come back! Come back! my loved and lost! 

For one brief hour by grace impelled ! 
Too late I learn the boundless cost 

Of thoughtless speech and love withheld! 



284 




MY LOVED AND LOST" 



The Depressing Factors 



LONG JOY AND SHORT SORROW 

They err who speak of long sorrow and short joy. The re- 
verse is the truth. 

Real joy rarely ends, while most sorrow is short-lived. 
People are built that way. 

God never intended man for eternal mourning, any more than 
He made the winds to be always sighing. Nature's days are 
mostly bright; cloudy ones are exceptions. 

Summer warmth lasts longer than winter cold. The genial 
sunshine never flits away to leave us sad. 

The brightness of summer is a flash of divine love; the lesser 
brightness of winter is not a frown, but a resting spell. 

Winter snow is Nature's bridal robe, not a burial shroud; 
the long night-shadows are transitory, while the glory of sea and 
sky is enduring. 

Nature exhibits more light colors than blacks. Morning 
and noon are dazzling, and few are the evenings without their 
moonlight or star-shine. 

Man's experience of grief comes only at intervals; it may be 
keen while it lasts, but his seasons of delight are numberless. 

Many are too prone to magnify their sorrows and to minify 
their joys. This is inconsistent. Were experience the reverse 
of what it is, such a habit would be shocking. 

Most of us live in long rounds of joyous reverie and happy 
experience, broken only now and then as needful reminders 
that heaven is not yet quite ushered in. 

When life is what it should be, man is gathering fruit for the 
future, and certainly the harvest time is generally propitious. 

Good times are ours, friends, if we only know it, and heaven 
can be no more than growth eternal of everything good. 



287 



Every Life A Delight 



A PROMOTER OF HEARTACHES 

In ages past a habit was formed among mankind which has 
ever been the promoter of heartaches. It is the liquor habit. 

With its accompanying evils, it has produced more misery 
in human life than war, famine, and pestilence combined. 

It exempts from its ravages no class or clan, sex or age, posi- 
tion or vocation, but turns its victims everywhere into tubs of 
swill, spirits of unrest, things below beasts. 

Its effects on the home are ruinous — houses without windows, 
barns without roofs, gardens without fences, fields without 
tillage, children without clothing, sons without principle, daugh- 
ters without morals, wives without hope. 

A drunkard is his own shame, his neighbor's scoff, his family's 
sorrow, his nation's burden, his Creator's cast-off. 

Drunkenness is a voluntary madness; it makes man a 
maniac; it brutalizes, demoralizes, and mutilates; it is de- 
structive of self, and evokes no sympathy, hardly ever pity. 

A drunkard, when sober, despises himself, is filled with re- 
morse, wishes himself dead, and often becomes a suicide. 

Drunkenness qualifies for other vices, but never blots out a 
vice. It aggravates other diseases, 'but never itself leaves the 
system. It is the prime minister of death, always anticipates 
the work of age, and utilizes fevers, palsies, dropsies, gouts, 
asthmas, dyspepsias, and all the other ills of earth to drive man 
out of the world as long as possible before his time. 



ROUGH SPECIMENS 

There are some bad people in this world — no mistake about 
that; but even the worst probably do not consider themselves 
much worse than the best. They are more likely to think them- 
selves unfortunate than absolutely bad. 

Go into any public prison and talk with the inmates. One 
man will tell how he drifted along in crime, not meaning to be an 

288 



The Depressing Factors 



abandoned character, but was held in crime, as it were, by some 
sort of a strange spell until he woke up and found himself behind 
the bars. 

Another will lay the blame for his misfortune upon drink, 
or bad associations, or extreme poverty, or irresistible temptation, 
or to some other circumstances beyond his control. He did not 
mean to be a wretch. 

Badness is, of course, a matter of degree. The thief is not 
considered so brutal as the murderer, nor the defaulter quite as 
low as the thief ; and every criminal in the land is believed to be 
capable of becoming worse. 

It is also a fact that people who are convicted of crime and 
condemned to prison uniformly believe that there are just as 
many bad ones out of prison who ought to be in it, as there are 
bad ones in it who think they ought to be out. Here, again, the 
idea of being unfortunate crops out. 

But, out of prison or in, there really are bad people on 
earth. Life is never quite safe, nor property secure. Dissipa- 
tion is manifest on every hand. Wicked faces mirror wicked 
character. There are dens of iniquity bordering on the abandon- 
ment of hell. Demons in human shape vie with demons in the 
infernal pit. If perdition gets no recruits except from earth, it 
must be growing rapidly. 

But there have always been bad people in the world. Murder 
has as old a history as anything except the giving of life, and 
there was darkness and chaos before that time. I am not 
writing theology into this book, but it really looks as though the 
average man has, and always has had, a bent toward the bad. 
Shakespeare speaks of those who are "damnable, both sides 
rogue." A greater than Shakespeaie declares that "they are all 
under sin." 



289 



Every Life A Delight 



BETTER 

Better than pelf a thousand fold, 
Better than relics rare and old, 
Better than mines of purest gold, 
A conscience clear. 

Better than diamond, ruby, or pearl, 
Better than gayety's giddiest whirl, 
Better than title of noble or earl — 
A godly fear. 

Better than etiquette ever yet gained, 
Better than scholarship ever attained, 
Better than leadership, real or feigned — 
A heavenly lure. 

Better than conquests ever yet dreamed, 
Better than fortunes ever yet gleaned, 
Better than kingdoms ever yet schemed — 
A spirit pure. 

WICKED FOR PAY 

Men do not reason themselves into wickedness. There may 
be method in the madness of some, but none can feel that their 
own wickedness is wise. 

Neither does wickedness proceed upon any ground of benefit. 
Crime helps no one, and every man knows it. 

Wickedness is a matter of bargain and sale. Sin has wages. 
Vice is a toilsome pursuit, but men are in it for pay. Satan 
offered one person a kingdom if he would turn bad. 

Wicked men are the greatest drudges in the world. Excess 
in badness is the biggest drag on energy that mortals know. 
It is the pay that holds them in it. The wages of sin is death. 

Nothing so quickly exhausts the powers of life as viciousness. 
Carnality is martyrdom to the devil. Nobility is always wrecked 
when wicked passion steers the ship. 

290 



The Depressing Factors 



No man is forced into wickedness, therefore he must plunge 
in for the pay. He is not under the slightest obligation to 
anybody to do wrong, hence something must entice him to it. 

No man is wicked in order to secure the approval of his own 
conscience. Badness works the other way. There is no sinless 
sin, and every sinner knows it. 

Retribution overtakes wickedness. Penalty follows lawless- 
ness as naturally as reaping follows sowing. Men gather no 
blessed harvests from vicious seeding. 

Such pay as wickedness earns is certain to come. The devil 
is a sure paymaster. That which a man soweth shall he also 
reap. Wickedness never reaped anything good, and never will, 
but its reward of ruin is as inevitable as destiny. 



GOOD IN ALL OF US 

There 's good in all of us, they say. 

I think it may be true; 
Despite the dirtiness of clay, 

It has some value, too. 
I saw a sot protect a cat, 

A "tough" soothe boyish fears, 
A thief restore a stolen hat, 

A pugilist in tears; 
I saw a robber give a crust 

To crippled beggar poor, 
Who groveled in the wayside dust; 

'T was kind of him, I 'm sure. 
It may be true that in the deep 

Of every human heart 
A sediment of good may keep 

From badness long apart ; 
And also true that while the lamp 

Still has a wick to burn, 
The vilest sinner in the camp 

May to his God return ; 
291 



Every Life A Delight 



But I believe 't were better taste 
Not to exhaust the wick, 

Nor let much goodness go to waste 
In doing Satan's trick. 



BEWARE 

" Beware of dogs!" said one of old. 

The dogs of hate and rancor bold ; 
The dogs of malice, spleen, and spite; 

Ill-mannered dogs, of barkless bite. 

"Beware of dogs!" The unrefined, 
The snarling, ugly, wolfish kind ; 

The vicious-eyed, the bull-neck sort, 
That bite to kill and think it sport. 

"Beware of dogs!" The sullen breed, 
With penchant for ferocious deed; 

Unplayful, treacherous, untamed, 
For fierceness in destruction famed. 

" Beware of dogs ! " Of dog-like men 
Who sulk and hide in secret den ; 

The low-browed brutes, the heartless hoard, 
Whose minds with filth and vice are stored. 

"Beware of dogs!" Else choose the best, 
The faithful ones, of worth possessed, 

Who hail you home, and watch your store, 
And make you love them more and more 

"Beware of dogs!" The sly, the mean, 
Whose dirty tricks excite your spleen ; 

The dogs of evil, beasts that tear; 
Unholy dogs; beware! beware! 



292 




THE WOLFISH SORT 




THE FAITHFUL ONES 



The Depressing Factors 



THE UPWARD CLIMB 

Bad as the world is, it is not as bad as it has been. There 
are signs of improvement. 

In the one big fact of sanitation there has been a wholesome 
advance. There are more people well informed to-day on 
questions of good health, good morals, and other things good 
than ever before. 

It is an age of light. Education is advancing fast. Even in 
England, only a century ago, not one-half of the children were 
sent to school. Education is now the watchword the world over. 

Science has also advanced. Methods of reasoning are better 
than of old. Once they set up a theory, and then looked for facts 
to support it. Xow they take the facts and work out more 
accurate results. 

Popular conviction is clearer than in the olden time. Mor- 
ality rests upon a safer basis. If conduct was right among the 
fathers, no more was required, but now there is demand that 
character be right also. 

Church work is gaining ground. In 1800 only one in fifteen 
of the American people was a Church member; now there is 
one in every four or five. 

Organizations for religious work are more numerous to-day 
than ever before. This fact proves thoughtfulness along re- 
ligious lines. Almost every phase of practical work now has a 
strong organization behind it. 

Men have more liberty now than at any former time. It 
is n't long since both slavery and the slave trade were both 
practiced and defended. Xow both are abolished. 

The common talk of people is more refined now than it used 
to be. Profanity and obscenity are far less conspicuous. Polite 
society will have none of them. 

Gambling is more under ban than it was. The lottery was 
once a favorite form of benevolence, and schools and colleges — 
yes, churches, too — were built thereby. Xow the lottery is 
outlawed. 

295 



Every Life A Delight 



Dueling was once counted a legitimate mode of settling 
grievances. At present it is considered a relic of barbarism. 

There was a time when the brotherhood of man was scarcely 
recognized. Now the houses of refuge, hospitals, homes for the 
aged and friendless, shelters for the poor, institutions of rescue, 
and other agencies of charity and relief are well and cheerfully 
sustained. 

A few decades ago a great public calamity elicited only 
sympathy; now it calls out dollars by the million as well. The 
humane feeling is a live wire. 

Two thousand years ago, or less, human sacrifices were of- 
fered, parents put their own children to death at pleasure, old 
people were killed to get them out of the way, men fought as 
gladiators for popular entertainment. Now these things are 
unknown. 

A thousand years ago society was given up to abandonment; 
lust was dominant over love; brutality characterized all acts; 
morality and religion were at a low ebb; intolerance was the 
master trait; heretics were burned by authority; the thirst for 
blood was rampant. These things have passed, or are passing 
away. 

Humanity is on the up-grade — no mistake about that. 
This is the best age to live in ever. The nations have better 
grades of schools, philanthropies, reforms, public utilities, busi- 
ness facilities, political economies^ domestic methods, personal 
conveniences, and other things desirable and pleasing than ever 
before. 

People agree better now than they once did. There is more 
harmony in the Churches. Truth is better known. Life is 
lengthening. Society is advancing. The skies are brightening. 
The only golden age ever known lies just ahead of our progressive 
age. Three cheers for the upward climb. 



296 



The Depressing Factors 



SUPERSTITION 

Superstition is silly, and must pass away. Nearly all of the 
old superstitions have become silly to us, and those of our day 
will become silly to future generations. As the world grows in 
wisdom, superstition grows in unreasonableness. 

Superstition is the burden of the world, and the reproach of 
the Deity. It does not grow out of religion, but the want of it. 
"Open biographical volumes wherever you please," said Bulwer, 
"and the man who has no faith in religion is the one who hath 
faith in a nightmare and ghosts." 

Superstitions do not grow up in a day, nor die in an hour. 
Only a high degree of enlightenment and the modifying effects 
of time can expurgate them. 

Handed down from one generation to another in tradition, 
song, and story, they become so interwoven with other traits 
of character that to root them out is a difficult task. 

With some temperaments superstitions are, and always have 
been, a swaying power. 

How superstitiousiy we mind our evils! 
The throwing down salt, or crossing of a hare, 
Bleeding at nose, the stumbling of a horse, 
Or singing of a cricket, are of power 
To daunt whole man in us. 

Many of the old superstitions are now unknown, and it is 
to be hoped that all now current may some day be forgotten, or 
at least lose their hold. How absurd seem the following: 

Sunday's child is full of grace, 
Monday's child is full in the face, 
Tuesday's child is solemn and sad, 
Wednesday's child is merry and glad, 
Thursday's child is inclined to thieving, 
Friday's child is free in giving, 
Saturday's child works hard for his living. 

Attention used to be paid to the day on which a child's 
finger-nails were cut: 

Better a child had ne'er been born 
Than cut his nails on a Sunday morn. 

297 



Every Life A Delight 



Friday was regarded as an unlucky day, except as to love 
omens : 

To-night, to-night, is Friday night, 
Lay me down in dirty white, 
Dream who my husband is to be; 
And lay my children by my side, 
If I 'm to live to be his bride. 

The month of May was considered unlucky for marriage: 
Marry in May and you '11 rue the day. 

But June was thought to be auspicious, because the earth is 
then clothed in her garments of summer beauty. 

The last day of the year was thought favorable for marriage, 
and as late as 1861, in the eight principal cities of Scotland, 
there were about five hundred weddings on December 31st, 
against an average of twenty-five on other days. 

Cloudy days were held to be unlucky for weddings, and on 
sunshiny days weddings were often celebrated on church porches 
under the belief that the sun should kiss the bride : 

Blest be the bride that the sun shines on. 

It was also thought requisite to good luck that on return 
from church all pins should be removed from the bride's dress 
by single women, and each young lady thus gaining possession of 
a pin was expected to be married within a year. 

If the pins were not thus removed, the bride was expected, 
at the close of the eventful day, to throw away every pin, lest 
evil fortune should overtake her. 

How silly such notions, yet were they much more so than 
our own up-to-date rice showers? 

Superstitious values were once attached to many little acts. 
Throwing a shoe after the bride was intended as an augury of 
long life, and throwing it after any other person was the ex- 
pression of a wish that he might succeed in what he was then 

going about. 

Hurle after an old shoe, 
I '11 be merry whate'er I doe. 
298 



The Depressing Factors 



So late a writer as Tennyson has not omitted to speak of 
this piece of folly: 

For this thou shalt from all things seek 

Marrow of mirth and laughter; 
And wheresoe'er thou move, good luck 

Shall throw her old shoe after. 

There were many old table superstitions, some of them not 
even yet outgrown. The number thirteen was supposed to be 
unlucky because at the last supper of the Master with His 
chosen disciples, Judas was the thirteenth person. The modern 
idea in life insurance that one out of every thirteen persons will 
die within a year has helped to perpetuate the absurd notion 
as to ''unlucky thirteen." 

To spill salt at the table, or to cross the knife and fork, was 
once taken as a sign of trouble or loss: 

The salt was spilt, to me it fell. 
Then, to contribute to my loss, 
My knife and fork were laid across. 

A crust of bread carried in the pocket was considered a safe- 
guard against danger: 

If ye fear to be affrighted 

When ye are, by chance, benighted; 

In your pocket for a trust 

Carry nothing but a crust, 

For that holy piece of bread 

Charms the danger and the dread. 

The innocent looking-glass once had its terrors. To break 
one meant "seven years of sorrow," or "the death of the master 
of the house." 

To break a chair meant nothing, but to place a chair against 
the wall on departing was a sign that the visitor would never 
return. 

Finger rings had significance, especially the settings. A 
diamond was thought to counteract poison. An opal signified 
coming misfortune. An emerald insured purity of thought. 

299 



Every Life A Delight 



To lose or break a ring given as a pledge of fidelity or affection 
was considered unlucky. 

In cutting the finger-nails, adults had to choose an auspicious 
day: On Monday for health; Tuesday for wealth; Wednesday 
for news; Thursday for new shoes; Friday for sorrow; Satur- 
day "to see true love to-morrow;" Sunday for "the presence of 
the devil all the week." 

In sneezing, people had to observe the rules: Monday for 
danger, Tuesday for stranger, Wednesday for a letter, Thursday 
for something better, Friday for sorrow, Saturday for sweet- 
heart to-morrow; 

Sneeze on Sunday your safety seek, 

The de'il will have you the rest of the week. 

Two sneezes were considered wholesome, and three signified 
that a convalescent was fit to be turned out of a hospital. 

Sneezing, from noon to midnight, was good, but from night 
to noon, the reverse. 

For one person to sneeze three nights in succession meant 
that a death would occur in the house, or that some other ill- 
fortune was sure. 

The habits of women were watched closely, and there was 
strong antipathy to her whistling : 

A whistling woman and crowing hen 
Are neither fit for God nor men. 

Or, according to another version: 

A whistling wife and a crowing hen 

Will call the old gentleman out of his den. 

Dreaming had its signs. A dream of death meant long life. 
A dream of dancing indicated good fortune : 

Who dream of being at a ball 

No cause have they for fear; 
For soon will they united be 

To those they hold most dear. 

300 



The Depressing Factors 



In medicine superstition played a big part. To cure rheuma- 
tism, "carry the fore-foot of a female hare," or "wear a galvanic 
ring." 

To alleviate headache, "burn up your loose hairs lest some 
bird carry them off and make your head ache all the time she is 
weaving them into her nest." 

To eradicate jaundice, "eat nine lice on a piece of bread and 
butter." 

To stop nose-bleed, "wear a skein of scarlet thread around 
the neck, tied in front with nine knots." 

To destroy a wen, "the touch of a dead man's hand is effi- 
cacious." 

To prevent a sty, wear a gold ring, as per Beaumont and 
Fletcher's advice: 

1 have a sty here, Chilax. 

Chit. I have no gold to cure it, not a penny. 

To live long, let your house fill up with spiders: 

If you wish to live and thrive, 
Let the spider run alive. 

To make your life a real delight, rid yourself of superstition 
and govern yourself by sound judgment. None of the old super- 
stitions have any basis in fact. Even a ghost has actually never 
been seen. 

The world is as you know it, and it is becoming what you 
and others make it. 



301 



Every Life A Delight 



A CANNONADE 

If words were cannon balls of size, 
And thoughts were smokeless powder, 

I'd fire off a big surprise, 
As loud as guns, or louder. 

I 'd shoot at all the spooks and ghosts, 
And send the varmints flying; 

I 'd mow down error's mighty hosts 
With all the troops of lying. 

Then next I 'd turn the guns around 
And slay all superstition; 
I 'd make the clearing field abound 
With growing erudition. 

I 'd drive out all the doubts and fears, 

Credulity included, 
And midst a din of shouts and cheers 

See ignorance excluded. 

I 'd hoist the flag of Wisdom's light, 

Gigantic evils purging; 
And draw the friends of truth and right 

Around the standard surging. 

And then, with victory complete, 

I'd have a celebration, 
To show mankind the glorious feat 

Of conquered degradation. 



302 




WISHING YOU DELIGHT 



PART SEVENTH 
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS 



None are so great, so strong, so high 
That all beneath the vaulted sky 

To them by right belongs; 
None are so small, so weak, so low 
That mildly for an hour or so 

They may not sing their songs. 



Personal Reflections 



MY STORY 

The best part of my life-story is that which precedes it; 
therefore I will tell it myself. 

I know nothing of my ancestors farther back than three 
generations — my father, his father, and his father, or, as some 
would speak of the last one, my great grandfather. 

Just why it is custom to call fore-parents great and grand 
is more than I can understand. The only greatness that some 
men achieve is that they live a long time, and then they are 
usually anything but grand. 

No evidence is in my hands that I am descended from any 
one very great or grand, though I claim as excellent an ancestry 
as the average man. 

I knew my mother, for I lived with her fifteen years before 
she died. She was lovely to me, as, indeed, she was to her six 
other children that I knew, and no doubt was just as lovely 
to three others who died of scarlet fever before I was born. 

My mother lived on earth only forty-two years — not long 
enough to become great or grand, though I submit that any 
woman who brings ten children into the world and takes good 
care of them ought to be called great and grand, if anybody is. 

My mother's name before father married her was Miss 
Fannie Ann Buck, a stout, good-natured person and a hard 
worker. She had many fine traits of character, and was an 
exemplary Christian. 

My mother's mother, whom I also knew, was of German 
descent, but her husband, Adam Buck, was one-half Irish; there- 
fore my mother was one-fourth Irish, while I can boast that one- 
eighth of the vital fluid coursing my veins trickled down from 
the Emerald Isle. However, there is n't enough Irish about me 
for one-eighth of the wit I ought to have and have not. 

My father was a full-blooded German named Philip. His 
father bore the name of Jacob, and was the son of Raynard, a 
stalwart young fellow who came from Germany about the 
middle of the eighteenth century and settled in Maryland. 

307 



Every Life A Delight 



Let me tell about him. The stories of brave immigrants are 
sometimes grand, if not great. 

Raynard Potts had no money in the Fatherland, but he had 
what was better — courage for any task or sacrifice. 

He wanted to come to America, but could not pay his pas- 
sage. So he sold himself for a period of seven years to earn a 
ticket across the Atlantic. 




HE HAD FALLEN IN LOVE 



Before his time was up he had fallen in love with a girl 
whom he wished to bring with him as his wife. 

He accordingly had the period of his servitude extended for 
three years, or ten in all, in order to reach this land of the free. 

In due time the young couple embarked, both working on 
board ship without compensation during the entire voyage, that 
being a part of the conditions upon which they obtained tickets. 

When they landed at Baltimore the only movable property 
they possessed was a pen-knife, which he carried in his vest 
pocket. 308 



Personal Reflections 



Making their way into the forests about twenty miles from 
Baltimore, they located their claim, and began the work of 
carving out a home. 

By day's work for others he earned a cow and she a feather 
bed. Thus, little by little, they brought together materials for 
housekeeping. 

Baltimore at that time (probably about 1759 to 1760) could 
not have contained more than five hundred inhabitants. It had 
no newspaper, and no stage-coach connection with any other 
city until 1773. 

Even as late as 1775 it contained only 564 houses and 5,934 
inhabitants. 

The early settlements were chiefly along the rivers and bay. 

Paths were blazed through the woods, and as soon as Ray- 
nard began to raise produce for the market, he loaded an ox as 
heavily as the beast could bear and started in the evening on 
foot, leading the animal and reaching Baltimore about day- 
break next morning. 

Many were the lonely night journeys made by this great 
grandfather in this wearisome way. 

In course of time Raynard became overseer of a large to- 
bacco plantation, and had charge of the slaves. 

Being naturally kind of heart, and remembering his own 
long period of servitude, he was merciful toward the people in 
black, looking after their comfort and being careful not to 
oppress them. 

The "blacksnake" then in use was an instrument of punish- 
ment for which he had no use. 

The slaves loved him, and would do his bidding without 
force. This annoyed the owners, though the method accrued 
to their advantage more than brutality would. 

Raynard was threatened with dismissal if he showed too much 
leniency toward the slaves. 

One day an old negro complained of weakness and weari- 
ness, and the overseer excused him for the day. 

Out came the owner in a fit of rage and threatened to horse- 
whip the overseer. 

309 



Every Life A Delight 



"Strike me, if you dare!" was the sharp challenge; "but if 
you do, every slave will rise against you in mutiny!" 

Raynard was not struck, but was dismissed, and again had 
to depend on the labor of his own hands for the necessaries of 
life. 

A family of sons and daughters were now growing up around 
him. His eldest son, Jacob, was born January 14, 1761, and a 
younger son, John, and three daughters had come to bless the 
humble home. 

Pioneer life in those days was of the abridged variety. Desti- 
tution was known, and hard work was necessary to keep soul and 
body together. 

Children, like the parents, were inured to toil and deprived 
of comforts. Next to the big kettle on the long, swinging crane 
over the huge fireplace, where the plain vegetables and meats 
were boiled, the article of furniture considered most essential 
was the spinning wheel for flax or wool, for every family was 
supposed to be able to manufacture its own dress fabrics. 

In this regard the pioneer sons and daughters of Maryland 
were not unlike those of the Pilgrims in New England, who were 
taught to spin flax, dip candles, make soap, and do all the 
other things which prosperity under difficult conditions required. 

When little maidens learned to spin, . 

There was so much for them to do, 
The swift wheels made a merry din 

Before the hearth the long day through. 
And then, when early evening came, 

And ere the twilight prayers were said, 
They dipped the candle-wicks whose flame 

Should light them to their curtained bed. 

In course of time, while Raynard and his children were 
pursuing their regular duties as pioneers, the Revolutionary 
War, with all its excitements and animosities, had come and 
gone. The wife of his youth had left the earth. The eldest son, 
Jacob, had married, and by the year 1780 or 1782 the entire 
family had determined to leave Maryland and seek a new 
home in the wilds of Canada. 

310 



Personal Reflections 



They made the journey and settled at Lyons Creek, about 
five miles from Niagara Falls, where they cleared a small farm. 

Before the century closed, the widowed father, Raynard, 
sank to his long rest and was buried at Drummondsville. 

The great grand man had passed through many hardships, 
and merited the reward of the faithful. 

The first meal the family ate in Canada was unique even for 
pioneers. 




SPINNING FLAX 



Every Life A Delight 



The last bit of flour had been exhausted, and there were no 
stores where new supplies could be obtained. 

A kind neighbor had a small piece of wheat just ripening 
toward the harvest, and he allowed the suffering family to cut 
just one sheaf. 

The wheat was shelled by hand from the heads, the chaff 
being blown out by the breath, and the kernels were boiled for 
the repast. 




WHERE SURGES ROLL 



On the Canada homestead the younger son, John, remained 
and reared a family. The daughters married, but what their 
names became, or where they lived and died, are matters to me 
unknown. Perhaps they became among the great and grand 
of the- world, and then perhaps they did n't. 

The elder son, Jacpjb, having heard of a region of country 
known as Long Point, up the shore of Lake Erie, and described 
as "the terrestrial paradise of Canada," where fine grapes, wal- 
nuts, chestnuts, plums, and wild apples grew in abundance on 

312 



Personal Reflections 



native trees, and where deer roamed the forests in vast herds, he 
resolved to move thither with his family. 

At the old home at Lyons Creek good drinking water had 
ever been scarce, but at the famed paradise, one hundred miles 
away, pure water was said to bubble up in perennial springs, 
rolling off in rapid rivulets and streams toward the great lake. 

In the year 1800 the new pilgrimage was undertaken. Rude 
paddle-boats had been constructed, and Jacob and his family, 
with a few others, started along the lake shore, keeping close 
to land and rowing all the way. 

At night the men would carry the women and children from 
boat to shore, kindle a fire, prepare a meal, and sleep on the 
ground until morning. What live-stock they had was driven 
along the shore. 

How long they were in completing the journey is not re- 
corded, but they finally reached the goal of their hopes and 
found Nature's realities fully as bright and rich as had been 
pictured. 

Few white settlers had preceded them. The first pioneer's 
cabin had stood but eight years. The Indians, however, were 
plentiful and peacefully inclined. 

Jacob had brought with him a certificate of his good char- 
acter from the captain of the militia at Niagara Falls which, 
though it did not make him great or grand, shows that he had 
friends. It reads: 

I do certify that the bearer, Jacob Potts, belonging to my 
Company of the Third Regiment Militia of the County of Lin- 
coln, has always behaved himself and been very attentive to his 
duty since I had the honor to command the Company. 

Thomas Cummings, Captain. 
To whom it may concern. 

Chippawa, 15 th March, 1800. 

Jacob became quite conspicuous among his pioneer neigh- 
bors. He had purchased two hundred acres of land, paying cash, 
as the receipt shows, and had proceeded to erect the largest 
barn in the whole region. 

313 



Every Life A Delight 



The building, though constructed of logs, was fifty feet 
long, and every settler within fifteen miles around was summoned 
to help raise it up. The common remark was that the farm 
would never yield enough grain and produce to fill it. 

Good use, however, was made of the structure. Public 
worship was often held in it, and tradition says that the famed 
Nathan Bangs delivered in it his first sermon in Canada. 

Jacob was thrice married, first in Maryland, where Susannah, 
his wife, bore him four sons and two daughters, all of whom 
came with him up Lake Erie's shore. By his second wife he had 
no issue. 

By his third wife, Catherine, he had one daughter and two 
sons, his youngest child, Philip, being my father. 

Jacob lived until January 27, 1838, and- was buried in the 
original cemetery of his township. His modest tombstone bears 
this epitaph : 

"He lived and died a Christian." 

My father, Philip, first saw the light April 10, 1819, and he 
was twenty-nine years old when, on June 12, 1848, he kissed 
my mother and first took me into his arms, his second living son. 

The sun did not stand still when I was born, nor was the son 
still-born. I was told, after I began to kick around, that I had 
been "a fine, strong baby, good-natured, and a rapid grower." 

Further, this deponent sayeth not. 



HOW I GREW RICH 

I came to these United States when near the age of nine; 
My father brought me here, you see, I could not well decline: 
He brought me with five other sons to get us each a farm, 
Where we could plow and hoe and dig afar from city's harm. 

Yet not a son of us to-day is digging in the ground ; 
We're getting rich, or trying to, by other means we found. 
As for myself, I left the farm when sixteen years of age, 
And taught a school, then went to war, then hired out for wage. 

314 



Personal Reflections 



And since that time, by hook or crook, I 've tried to make my 

pile, 
I've studied hard, and written much, and lived in humble style; 
I 've bought and sold, and borrowed, too, and paid my honest 

debts ; 
I 've stood aloof from watered stocks, from gambling schemes 

and bets. 
My first investment was in land. They said it would increase 
In value fast by growth of crops, by dairy goods, and fleece; 
But 't was n't long before I learned by own or other's fault 
That in the farming business I could never earn my salt. 

And so I sold the tract of land for just what I could get, 
And bought a fine suburban lot from salesman whom I met; 
He said that I would soon be rich by holding city land — 
While I built castles in the air, he talked to beat the band. 

I held the lot for twenty years, met the improvement cost, 
Then reckoned up my balance-sheet, and found that I had lost, 
In taxes, interest, and all, some fifty-odd per cent — 
I pity fellows like myself on speculation bent. 

So next I bought some gilt-edged stock in city banking house; 
To see it pay big dividends I watched it like a mouse; 
It paid the dividends all right, and paid the cashier, too; 
It's paying lawyers yet to see its litigation through. 

Enough for me, I thought, and turned to such industries rare, 
As sugar factories and cement, investing cash and care; 
But one by one the factories closed, the charters went to smash, 
And thus in ventures such as these I have n't earned my hash. 

But I am rich in spite of all ; I ' ve learned a thing or two ; 
I've learned that money is n't made by every project new; 
I've learned that saving is ahead of speculation bold, 
That empty glitter forms the bulk of a promoter's gold. 

315 



Every Life A Delight 



AN UNUSUAL REQUEST 

Never in such an unusual manner was an appeal made to 
my heart as in the case of a widower in Northern Michigan who 
wished me to find a wife for him in Detroit. 

The wistful man said that he owned forty acres of land, one- 
half of which was under cultivation, the rest sugar-bush, and 
he had five children, was himself only forty years old, and he 
knew that there must be many widows in a great city like Detroit 
who would be glad to come to him and be married. Would I 
please look up one of them for him? 

In his view, an editor knew everybody, widows included, 
and he thought it would be only a pleasant pastime for me to 
tramp around over the city consulting a hundred or so of the 
women in black whether they would go up into the north woods, 
eat maple sugar, be a mother to five lusty urchins, and inci- 
dentally marry a man in mourning who considered himself the 
proprietor of one-fourth of a quarter-section of stump land. 

Of course, my heart was deeply moved in behalf of the poor 
fellow. He was entirely sincere in the matter. He thought I 
could do him the little favor just as well as not, and to this day I 
know not whether he does not blame me for so cruelly neglecting 
to whisper love stories into the ears of an army of widows to 
induce them to rush to the rescue of a simple-minded widower 
with five children, a sugar bush, and twenty acres of cleared 
ground upon which to raise potatoes and cabbages. 



MISTAKEN FOR A BURGLAR 

• The funniest incident in my life, though it might have proved 
very serious, was when I was mistaken for a burglar. It happened 
in this way: I had been absent from home for several days, 
and was not expected when I arrived late at night, and the 
family had retired. 

I used my night-key, opened the door quietly, and went in,, 

316 



Personal Reflections 



saying nothing, not wishing to disturb the sleepers, all of whom 
were on the upper floor. 

My own bed-room was on the first floor, and my bed had not 
been prepared for my coming, so I proceeded to pull open bureau 
drawers to find sheets and pillow-cases. 

Now, it so happened that a new kitchen maid had been 
employed, and she had not become used to my total deafness, 
or to my manner of doing things. 

But she was a wide-awake person, and when she heard the 
stealthy pulling of the drawers she concluded that a thief was 
ransacking the house, and proceeded to alarm the rest of the 
family. 

Blissfully unconscious myself that anybody was scared or 
screaming, I continued my hunt for the missing bed clothes. 

Pretty soon I saw a light flashing around the house, and 
stepping to a curtained window I discerned a policeman and 
several others testing the windows and moving cautiously about. 
Impulsively, I asked what the trouble was. The policeman, with 
drawn revolver, approached the window where I stood and de- 
manded to know my business in that house. Though I did not 
at the time know what he said, I surmised the situation and 
proceeded to explain the matter of my home-coming. 

The maid heard my voice, recognized it, threw open her 
own window, and exclaimed to the searching party that I was 
no burglar, and that everything was all right. 

The policeman marched off, scolding, the neighbors went 
home laughing, and I went upstairs and pacified the relieved yet 
still agitated household, promising never again to enter my own 
home unexpectedly in the night without making suitable an- 
nouncements. 



317 



Every Life A Delight 



EDITORIAL FUN 

'T is fun to be an editor, right in the public eye, 

You get such thorough using up before you have to die; 

The using up is sure to come, no editor escapes; 

It comes from many sources, too, and in a thousand shapes. 

There are the would-be writers, first, who'd scalp your very pate 

And at your next election rub your name from off the slate; 

And various correspondents, too, who'd knife you right and left 

Because you had to cut their squibs to suit the space as left. 

Obituary writers all would oust you from your chair 

And with your own blue pencil write your memoir then and there. 

The readers of your personals and other lively bits, 

Along with such as sniff your "eds," would often give you fits. 

Perusers of the articles you deemed so timely true, 

With critics of the poetry acceptable to you, 

Would join the controversialists and name you as a dunce 

If by some chance, when off your guard, you made a slip just once. 

The people whom you mention much want mentioning some 

more; 
The modest ones are deeply peeved, the sensitive are sore; 
The temperance folks are swift to charge that you 're a party man ; 
The politicians class you with the fool-type, cranky clan; 
The scientists ignore your views as fogyish and crude; 
The orthodox think you have joined the higher critics rude; 
The tithers say you 're worldly if you do n't denounce bazaars — 
They think reporting social life your paper always mars. 
The advocates of holiness have no respect for mirth, 
While haters of the sanctified would banish them from earth. 

No editor has ever stood the racket very long; 
If he survives for a decade he must be wise and strong; 
He '11 never find his sanctum quite an easy saint's retreat, 
Nor think his work in any line promotive of conceit. 
But fun he'll have in spite of all if once he gets his hide, 
Like that of the rhinoceros, completely tanned and dried. 

318 



Personal Reflections 



MY VISITOR 

He wanted to see me, so he said; 

Had long upon my writings fed ; 

Called it an honor just to meet 

The one whose thoughts had been a treat. 

He kept a talking on and on, 
About his projects, pro and con, 
Often declaring, sure as fate, 
He counted me both good and great. 

Within an hour — yes, and less — 
He had talked me into nothingness; 
Like streak of blue his tongue had stirred, 
While I had spoken not a word. 

He had told me of his health and age, 
In what he had and would engage; 
About his children and his wife, 
His views of this and that in life. 

Nor for a moment had he paused 
To learn effect his words had caused; 
He had rattled on, and time defied, 
While I saw staring and tongue-tied. 

Nor did his talking cease until 
The visit closed his talking mill ; 
The mill was grinding when he went, 
And what a wind of breath he'd spent! 

" I 'm glad to know you," so he said, 
As he was leaving me half-dead ; 
While I knew him quite well, you see, 
In no respect did he know me. 

319 




THE PEBBLY BEACH 



MY COTTAGE BY THE BAY 

The summer sun, in melting streaks, 

Is pouring down to-day; 
My fevered heart with longing seeks 

My cottage by the Bay. 

There, where the cooling maple shade 

Salutes the hot sun-ray, 
A paradise for me is made — 

My cottage by the Bay. 

The friendly birds and bird-like friends 
Make life so light and gay; 

Each daily round too quickly ends 
In cottage by the Bay. 

A living spring in crystal stream 
Makes glad the hillside way, 

And smiling faces ever beam 
From cottage by the Bay. 
320 



Personal Reflections 



Sweet childhood on the pebbly beach, 
Where gentle wavelets play, 

Keeps heaven closely within reach 
Of cottage by the Bay. 

O haven of rest ! Too dear for earth ! 

Too brief with thee my stay! 
Too sacred, far, that homely hearth — 

My cottage by the Bay! 



"ENCLOSED FIND" 

A letter reached me years ago, 
With others of the common sort; 

A stranger's letter, welcome, though, 
Because of rare and good import. 

Its opening words, "Please find enclosed," 
Prepared a pleasant sight to greet; 

And lo! two bright new bills reposed 
Within the foldings of the sheet. 

"Use when and where you need it most:" 
Thus was expressed the donor's care. 

Who is my kind and generous host? 
I looked, and lo! no name was there. 

But now and then, in later years, 
These tithing messages have come, 

And each, with some kind word that cheers, 
Has held a five, or smaller sum. 

And every dollar placed in trust 

For use somewhere when needed most 
Has gone to buy a thread or crust, 

As designated by my host. 
323 




THE GAME IS UP' 



THE TUG UPON THE LINE 

Cast in your hook! Await a strike! 

The fishing now is fine. 
There ! there ! a whale or something like 

Is tugging on your line. 

Why do your eyes bulge out, my friend? 

Why is your rod a bow? 
Reel in! Your line may reach the end, 

Then off your fish will go! 



He comes! The hook is still in place! 

I see his flashing side! 
An eager look now lights your face; 

The fish fights in the tide! 
324 



Personal Reflections 



O, how he pulls! Your muscles stand 

Like ropes of corded twine! 
Hie, there! If you the game would land, 

Then hold right taut your line! 

Ah! steady, now! His run grows short! 

His fins have lost their spring! 
The game is up ! The fisher's sport 

Is taking rapid wing. 

Poor flopping fish ! To throw you back 

My heart doth half incline ; 
But wait ! I feel another whack 

And tug upon the line! 



MY FAVORITE 

She is fair, yes, rather pretty, 
Also bright and counted witty; 
Cute in speech, but hardly saucy, 
Self-reliant, yet not bossy ; 
Fine in person, tall and slender; 
Not a stoic, nor too tender; 
Sympathetic, rarely crying; 
Never sad, and seldom sighing; 
Truly modest, sometimes blushing; 
Not too sweet, and never gushing; 
Strong in beautiful ambition; 
Meek enough for due contrition; 
Never haughty, vain, or chilly; 
Neither fulsome, soft, or silly; 
Gay enough, and ever merry; 
Not unguarded or unwary; 
325 



Every Life A Delight 



Always straight without a waver, 
Never bold, yet none are braver; 
Quick in action and decision, 
Sound in judgment, clear in vision; 
Candid, earnest, persevering; 
Bound to win, and others cheering 
Quite the equal of her mother; 
Like herself, and not another. 




Like Herself 





THE GOLDEN HAIR 



IN CURLS SO FAIR 



TWO DEAR GIRLS 

Two dear girls that I know, 
They occupy my heart so ! 

Each has a place 

None can efface, . 
No matter how the world go; 

Each girlish face 

Is decked with grace 
More beauteous than a rainbow. 



Two dear girls that I know 

My dear affection holds so! 
The little things 
Pull my heart strings 

In constant, tender outgo; 
I buy them rings, 
And Santa brings 

His gifts in merry outflow. 
327 



Every Life A Delight 



Two dear girls that I know — 
The tiny kids have grown so ! 

The golden hair, 

In curls so fair, 
That in their childhood shone so, 

Knows now the care 

And fashion's dare 
Which over all is thrown so. 

Two dear girls that I know, 
My heart goes out to them so! 

The years may roll 

Yet not control 
The love for them I ' ve sown so ! 

Sweet thoughts control 

My inmost soul — 
I 've held them as my own so. 



328 



Personal Reflections 



MY SWEETHEART 

I had a little sweetheart 
Some few decades ago, 
The dearest little sweetheart 
A trusting boy could know; 
In truth she was a greatheart, 
As measured by her beau. 

Xo one could come between us, 
My sweetheart dear and me, 

The fates were sure to screen us 
From lover number three; 

I wish you could have seen us 
Agreeing to agree. 

And time has fairly tested 
The sweetness of her heart; 

In her has never nested 
The bitter-sweet and tart; 

And no one yet has wrested 
Us very far apart. 




*• The sweetness of her heart ' 




MARGARET 



MY CHILD'S CHILD 



When my own first child was born, I was called "papa." 

When my child's first child was born, I was styled "grandpa." 

This was not because I was at all "grand," nor because I 
felt much like a "pa." 

Yet my daughter's child was to me really grand, with grand, 
lustrous eyes, grand little chubby hands, a grand smile, and 
grand baby ways. She was a grand magnet, too. 

Since her first year she has commanded my love to such an 
extent that it is difficult to stay away from her. 

She really seems very much like my own child, or as my 
children did at her age. 

It is marvelous how "blood tells," how kinship counts, how 
parental affection is handed down. To me little Margaret is 
very different from any other child of her age in the world. She 
is sweeter, more interesting, and I love her more. 

Therefore, while I do not fancy the name of "grandpa," I 
am more than willing to call Little Margaret a grand child. 

330 




EVER SHALL I HOLD HIM DEAR" 



DAYS OF YORE 

Back, my heart, to days of yore, 
Scenes of younger life live o'er; 
Go where fruit lands meet the waves, 
Where the sea-nymph, sporting, laves. 

Listen to that tender cry! 
'T is my first-born waking nigh. 
Loud above the roaring sea 
That sweet echo comes to me. 

Child of hope at parent's knee; 
Willing helper he 's to be ; 
Help or hinder, he has sway 
Through his happy infant day. 
331 



Every Life A Delight 



Babe to boyhood speedy grown; 
Boy to manhood; years have flown; 
Babe or man, while I am here, 
Ever shall I hold him dear. 

Back, my heart, to days of yore! 
Wake the echoes on that shore; 
Match with praise the roaring sea 
Where my first-born came to me. 




Personal Reflections 



TWO LITTLE GRAVES 

Among the millions of children's graves upon this earth, two 
there are which are very precious to me. One is on the bank 
of the Mississippi River, where sleeps my little Oscar Ferdinand, 
and the other in Woodmere Cemetery, Detroit, where rests my 
little Arthur Ninde. 

Dear, indeed, to me are these little mounds of earth. There 
my hottest tears were shed; there my keenest heartaches en- 
dured. 

Lowered away from my bodily sight forever, I saw those 
little forms go down. The eyes that had beamed into mine 
were closed. The soft, chubby hands that had patted my cheeks 
were still. The lips that had uttered expressions of love were 
sealed. agony! thy name is broken-hearted father! 

Years and years have passed, and my little boys sleep on. 
Had they lived, they would have been in young manhood now, 
and I would have known and cherished them through all the 
period of their growth. And would my present thoughts of them 
have been as tender and fond as they are now? I can not tell, 
but this I know: My other children hold their places in my 
heart just as they did in infancy, and for them I would, if need 
be, suffer and die. 

But Ferdie and Arthur! Dear, departed little boys! To 
me they will be ever young, ever frail, ever sweet and beautiful. 
The innocence still encircles them like a halo of light and glory. 
Their names are written in fadeless hues upon my inmost heart. 

Ferdie, my babe forever! 

Arthur, my boy immortal ! 

Rest on, loved souls! My own spirit draws near to thine. 
The end of mourning is in sight. Sorrow and crying will soon 
cease evermore. 



333 



Every Life A Delight 



THE PASSING YEARS 

How strange is life! Each lives his own. 
Into its mystic depths are thrown 
The joys and griefs, the hopes and fears, 
The cares and toils of passing years. 

What, then, am I? And what art thou? 
What are these moments we call Now? 
What is our consciousness? and who 
Can sound his own existence through? 

What is this life account we take? 
How differ dreams from thoughts awake? 
What is a thought? Is inner fact 
Less verity than outward act? 

What is experience? Is mine 
In character the same as thine? 
Do what we know and see and feel, 
On each the same emotions seal? 

How is thy mind impressed by pain? 
Canst thou the dread of death disdain? 
Does each love life with equal zest? 
Is each alike by kindness blest? 

What are these years which pass for all? 
What are these states which from them fall- 
Maturity, old age, alarm, 
Regret, remorse, or peaceful charm? 

These passing years no fiat halts. 
Above their doom no state exalts. 
From naught that breathes Time turns aside, 
Nor pity shows the terrified. 
334 



Personal Reflections 



O passing years! O year the last! 
On thee my fading eye is cast! 
O shoreless sea! O sealess shore! 
When time and earth with me are o'er! 

Come, then, my works, my thoughts, my dreams, 
A larger life before us gleams; 
A brighter sky before us clears! 
Farewell, farewell! passing years! 



335 



l^rary OF QONGRESS 




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